The Ministry of Interior said on Saturday it arrested a criminal network that collaborated with international criminal elements in electronically defrauding citizens and
draining their accounts on the InstaPay electronic payment application.
The ministry’s action came after social media users widely circulated warnings in recent days following incidents in which citizens had large sums of money stolen from their bank accounts
via messages appearing to come from InstaPay, using deceptive messages known as “Flash SMS.”
These incidents sparked shock due to the advanced hacking methods used, which allow perpetrators to
remotely take control of victims’ phones as soon as they open the application and enter their details, freezing their screens, and enabling the withdrawal to be completed within minutes.
According to the ministry’s statement, investigations revealed that international criminal elements based in an Asian country were operating a
fake electronic application used to defraud citizens and deceive them into believing the application could be used to watch encrypted TV channels for free.
Once activated, the app hacked their phones and took control of them, then sent text messages claiming that a sum of money had been withdrawn from their accounts on InstaPay.
When the victims accessed InstaPay to check the amount withdrawn by entering the secret PIN code, all funds in the account were drained and transferred to electronic wallets activated by three individuals inside the country.
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