## Social Engineering Fraud##

Dr. Bahaa Helmy Writes:

Theft, fraud, deception, swindling, extortion, money laundering and illegal money-making are crimes no less dangerous than the crimes of terrorism.

There is no doubt that the growth of these crimes through social engineering using websites on the international information network (the internet), as a result of the rapid and successive progress that technology is witnessing, constitutes a danger to society that must be confronted in accordance with the law.

These crimes are committed individually or run by professional organized criminals present in every corner of the earth, and their negative repercussions are not only economic and social; they are often linked to crimes of violence and terrorist financing.

And since corruption is global in nature at all levels and grows in developing countries, and its negative consequences are huge, as it creates a favourable environment for destabilizing political, economic and social stability, it is therefore considered a threat to the safety and security of society as a whole.

This makes police investigations and subsequent investigations long and arduous, which increases the security burdens on the police and on the oversight bodies concerned with combating corruption and entrusted with confronting financial crimes using social engineering, to enforce the law and protect the economy and national security.

Social engineering fraud is a term used by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), and it means the tricks to which criminals resort to exploit a person’s trust in order to obtain money directly or indirectly, or confidential information that enables them to commit a crime later; social media are the fertile environment and their preferred channel, but they sometimes contact victims by telephone or in person.

There is phishing via text messages claiming to be from a legitimate source, such as a bank or an e-commerce site, urging people to disclose personal or financial information.

And telephone fraud, in which the criminal calls randomly chosen victims and claims to be a friend, a relative or a person in a position of authority and tricks them into sending money.

Add to this romance scams, in which the criminal builds a relationship with victims through social media with the aim of obtaining money.

Or investment fraud, through pressure and sometimes harassment to pressure victims into investing in fraudulent or worthless shares.

And sextortion, by coercing victims (men and women) or tricking them into sending compromising photos or video recordings that are later used to blackmail them.