ROP cautions against cybercrimes, advises to not share financial data

Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) has cautioned people against cybercrimes and advised them to not share financial data with any unknown person or entity. The ROP also creates awareness among the community, and warns them about malwares and phishing.
Major Ghassan bin Badr Al Zadjali in the Directorate General of Inquiries and Investigations, while speaking on Radio, said: “The Royal Oman Police is striving to fight all kinds of crimes in the Sultanate by advanced means and technologies. As for the economic crimes, the Combating Economic Crimes Management in the Directorate General of Inquiries and Investigations is specialised in combating such crimes that target the economic entity of the state by follow-up and pursues the perpetrators of these crimes inside or outside the Sultanate, in cooperation with all formations of the Royal Oman Police and other security services. "
First Lieutenant Nasser bin Said Al Rajhi confirmed: "The Royal Oman Police, represented by the Directorate General of Inquiries and Investigations, is making great efforts in dealing with electronic crime cases in cooperation with relevant government and private institutions by dealing with various reports of electronic fraud and extortion as well as creates awareness through plans and programmes.”
First Lieutenant Al Rajhi added: "The technological development has its bright side in facilitating and simplifying the lives of people, but it has dark side that gives a new tool to criminals to divert funds by hacking private and personal information, through innovative and advanced methods.”
“Believing in the importance of an individual's rights to protect himself, the Royal Oman Police efforts come from the awareness side to stop electronic fraud,” First Lieutenant Al Rajhi added
First Lieutenant Al Rajhi explained: "The electronic fraud are getting more sophisticated with technical advancement and the need for online transactions under the pandemic conditions, which raises the risk of phishing.”
First Lieutenant Nasser Al Rajhi concluded:“On the basis of the joint responsibility, the Royal Oman Police calls upon everyone to enhance participation in eliminating these crimes by increasing the level of awareness and disseminating it among the community, as well as informing any suspicious methods and beware of giving financial data to any unknown person or entity.”
On targeted methods of electronic fraud during the Coronavirus pandemic, Major Ghassan Al Zadjali said: “With regard to targeted or more prevalent crimes during the Coronavirus pandemic, it has been observed that the spread of cybercrimes have increased around the world as people are forced to stay at their homes and they use web frequently. Examples of such cybercrime are: electronic fraud, phishing 'trapping' or electronic penetration and the use of counterfeit credit cards on websites.”
“On the importance of awareness in tackling electronic fraud, Major Ghassan Al Zadjali said: "I advise people not to get dragged into ads and unrealistic beautiful names, to make sure of purchases from secure or approved sites, not to give the bank card password or any one-time numbers used, securing all social media accounts by activating the two-step verification feature, and not opening any unknown source links.”