In an exclusive radio show on Marina FM channel and in contributing to (Diraya) campaign, Senior Manager Social Media and PR Services Center at Kuwait Finance House (KFH), Abdullah Al-Saif said that KFH is keen on promoting social awareness on the risks associated with cybercrimes, enhancing financial literacy of people, and increasing the standards of security in their banking and financial transactions.

Al-Saif added that it is essential to increase awareness levels among customers to counter cyber fraud and protect their confidential information, such as account numbers, banking cards, passwords, PINs, or Card Verification Values (CVVs), as well as avoid answering any phone calls, or suspicious messages that they may receive, whether on their phones, or through social media channels, especially if these messages are from an unknown source.

He reiterated that banks will not request personal information from customers via email, text messages or phone calls, indicating that customers should not answer those messages, as they are fraudulent attempts and aim to obtain customers’ bank details to steal their money or data.

He also urged customers to be cautious when receiving online links as they may unknowingly expose their confidential account details to cyber theft.

In addition, Al-Saif touched upon essential tips for protecting bank accounts such as avoiding saving any confidential information on mobiles including debit or credit card numbers, or PINs, or writing the PIN on the card, or sharing it with any third party, that also applies to OTP. He advised customers to immediately log out of the bank’s application or website after completing any transaction.

Meanwhile, KFH’s Assistant Manager E-Banking Mohammad Al-Khamis pointed out that online scammers can target customers in numerous ways to steal their identity and money, in addition to new methods of cyber fraud emerging such as "Remote Access" that allows hackers to control phones remotely. He directed customers to avert downloading applications that can have access to their phones, and to avoid answering suspicious calls and text messages, saying that banks do not use these means to communicate with their customers.

Al-Khamis mentioned that KFH seeks to prevent the impact of cyber risks by strengthening its safety and confidentiality procedures of customer data, measuring risks to identify any potential threats, setting specific standards and advanced protection programs such passwords specified for financial transactions, online services, as well as other confidential information related to its customers.

It is worth noting that KFH has enhanced its content through all its social media account and website to raise awareness of cyber fraud that can be carried out through several ways.

(Diraya) campaign, which the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) launched early 2021 in line with its objectives and social responsibility commitment with the aim of spreading banking knowledge among all members of society, increasing public awareness of the most important financial topics and ways to protect assets from fraud and false promises of quick profits. The campaign also aims at clarifying the role of the banking sector in general and the banking products it offers, by providing a set of instructions and advice and broadcasting them periodically through various media channels in cooperation with local banks and Kuwait Banking Association (KBA).