Zain Bahrain, a leading telecommunications provider in the Kingdom, warns customers not to respond to fraudulent messages circulated recently over WhatsApp. The messages inform recipients that they have won cash prizes from Zain and ask for personal information such as CPR numbers. Customers are also being asked to provide their WhatsApp verification codes as “confirmation”.
Zain Bahrain Director of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations Shaikh Abdulla bin Khaled Al-Khalifa said: “We would like to remind our users that Zain Bahrain would never ask you for your personal information or codes by phone, SMS or email. Moreover, Zain Bahrain would never call you through applications such as Viber or WhatsApp. We will always use official channels to communicate with users. We are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of our customers and are taking our investigation into the matter very seriously. In the meantime, we urge our customers to stay safe by ignoring such requests and reporting them.”
Fraudulent messages to avoid may include:
- Claims of cash prizes won, ranging between BD 50 and BD 20,000
- Requests for CPR numbers and WhatsApp verification codes in order to win prizes
- Requests to visit Zain Bahrain’s main office to collect prizes
Customers are requested to report fraudulent calls or messages to Zain Bahrain on 107, and immediately report them to the Bahrain Cyber Crime Directorate through 992 or the general hotline 80008008.