Kuwait’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) has cautioned against opening fake links, sent through short messages, social media and sponsored ads using the ministry name, as it is used by scammers to get access to users’ banking data.

In a press statement, the ministry said it does not ask those who file a complaint via its digital platforms or the government’s ‘Sahel’ application to give their personal banking information or a photo of their ATM card.

It added that it also does not send verification or OTP messages to complainers. The ministry advised the public to make sure that the link they received ends with “moci.gov.kw”, not with “.net or .com” or any other domain extension.

When submitting commercial complaints and reports, please use the official portal of the ministry’s commercial control and consumer protection sector “ccas.moci.gov.kw” or the government (Sahel) app, it said.