Six suspects arrested in 279 e-wallet fraud incidents, says CCU

AMMAN — The Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) on Monday announced the arrest of six suspects who allegedly swindled citizens in 279 e-wallet transaction incidents.

Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said that the CCU received many complaints from citizens complaining that they were defrauded by unknown people who took all the money that was in their e-wallet.

The CCU, which is affiliated with the Criminal Investigation Department, launched a probe into the incident which led to the arrest of the six suspects, Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

Investigations with the suspects indicated that they would reportedly “pose as e-wallet company employees who would call their victims and ask them to update their personal information and to send them the verification code that they received,” according to Sartawi.

Once the victims send back the received code, the police official maintained, “the defrauders will have complete access to their e-wallets and they steal their money”.

An e-wallet is a financial account used via a mobile application to transfer funds, pay bills, manage savings, shop online and conduct other transactions. Users do not need bank accounts to create e-wallets, which are operated by eight Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ)-approved platforms. 

The CCU warned the public from providing any personal information to unknown individuals or the verification code to anyone, according to the statement by the Public Security Directorate (PSD).

“The mother companies will never ask for the verification code for any transactions because it is specified to the customers only,” the PSD statement added.

All suspects were referred to the relevant courts for further questioning and indictment, according to the PSD statement.    

In July, the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) said that the number of e-wallet users in the Kingdom has risen by 6 per cent.

Digital wallet usage among Jordanians reached 2.17 million users, the CBJ stated, adding that there are eight payment and electronic transfer companies operating in the country which are authorised by the CBJ, in addition to connecting 19 banks to provide consumers with mobile payment services, thereby exchanging financial transactions between mobile wallets and to and from bank accounts.