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- 25% have lost money to a scam
- Fraudsters ‘increasingly sophisticated’
- Saudi Arabia and others sign UN treaty
Middle Eastern governments are stepping up efforts to combat online fraud as cybercriminals steal ever-larger sums from members of the public.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Algeria and dozens of other states joined the UN Convention against Cybercrime in October, allowing them to share data, pursue perpetrators and co-ordinate research into online scams.
A Global Anti-Scam Alliance survey of 46,000 people in 42 countries – including 3,000 in the Middle East – found that 51 percent of respondents in the region had encountered a scam in the past year.
A quarter of the Middle East respondents had had money stolen, just above the global average of 23 percent. Those in Saudi Arabia suffered an average loss of $2,511, one of the highest figures in the survey.
“Online shopping scams, where you order a product but it is not delivered, are the most common, followed closely by investment scams,” said Jorij Abraham, managing director of the Global Anti-Scam Alliance.
Investment scams were “growing rapidly”, he said. The unexpected money scam – when people are told they are owed money or winnings and asked for fees or personal details to release them – was also common.
“The general trend is upwards, as it is around the globe,” Jorij said.
Scams in the Middle East “have grown increasingly sophisticated”, according to Meriam El Ouazzani, regional director for the Middle East at cybersecurity company SentinelOne.
They are “evolving from basic phishing attempts to complex social-engineering campaigns, fraudulent investment schemes and deepfake impersonations”, she told AGBI.
“These attacks exploit human emotions and trust, making them some of the most damaging and difficult to detect.”
Businesses can be targeted too. In October, Kaspersky researchers uncovered a surge in scam emails where attackers impersonated major airlines including Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad, with the goal of tricking employees into handing over sensitive data.
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These growing threats have prompted countries in the region and beyond to sign up to the UN convention. While the UAE is not yet a signatory, it too has been more aggressively legislating against cybercrime.
Its 2021 law on “combating rumours and cybercrimes” criminalised hacking and other fraudulent activities, fake information dissemination and privacy disruption, while a 2023 law on “modern technology‑based trade” sought to protect businesses and consumers by tightening data protection rules and regulating e-commerce.
“Given the UAE’s significant reliance on technology, it has been essential to establish a robust and comprehensive legal framework to protect individuals and institutions,” Mohamed Saleh, legal consultant at HAS Law, wrote in a company blog.
Businesses are now responsible for protecting themselves and their customers.
“Security has to be designed in from the start,” Rich Greene, from cybersecurity training and research company SANS Institute, told AGBI.
“That means embedding risk controls directly into digital products, using real-time anomaly detection, phishing protection and continuous fraud monitoring.”