Cyber Security Council urges public to report fraudulent messages

The Cyber Security Council (CSC) has warned of the dangers posed by fraudulent messages targeting citizens, highlighting their various risks, and urged the public to remain vigilant and report scammers.

It also advised to delete any fraudulent messages, refrain from interacting with them, block unknown numbers, and immediately notify the relevant authorities.

The Council stressed the need for caution and vigilance against cyber fraud, calling for the blocking of any activities potentially linked to phishing or SMS-based scams. It noted that fraudsters increasingly rely on advanced and sophisticated methods of deception, including requesting personal information or impersonating official or government entities, institutions or trusted companies, in order to gain users’ trust and extract sensitive personal and financial data.

The Council further underscored the importance of exercising constant caution before clicking on any electronic links, and of verifying advertisements and the sources of messages that contain links or request personal or financial information.

It outlined several indicators that can help identify fraudulent messages, most notably that such messages often convey a sense of urgency, lack personalisation, appear "too good to be true", and typically originate from unknown numbers or contacts. Common examples of such scam messages include phrases such as "You have won", "You are entitled to a refund", "Verify your bank account", or "Exclusive discounted credit card offer", among others.

CSC affirmed that combatting phishing and cyber fraud begins at the individual level through enhanced cyber awareness and a strong cybersecurity culture. It called on users to follow a set of key practices, including refraining from responding to or engaging with suspicious messages, blocking the sender’s number, and avoiding clicking on any embedded links.

The weekly Cyber Pulse awareness message also encouraged adopting preventive habits to reduce future exposure to fraudulent messages, such as installing applications that block spam messages and regularly deleting untrusted messages.

The Council noted that the spread of fraudulent messages, reaching approximately 35 per cent over the past year, has placed users before increasingly complex challenges in combating fraud. The reality necessitates the adoption of defensive tools and technologies grounded in knowledge, awareness and a clear understanding of the scale of risks associated with these emerging fraudulent practices, as well as enhancing capabilities to add extra layers of protection, enable faster detection and achieve greater accuracy in identifying scam attempts.

CSC concluded by reaffirming that cybersecurity safety in the digital space has become a major challenge, and that these preventive measures complement ongoing government efforts to address current digital challenges driven by rapid technological evolution.