JEDDAH — A recent social experiment has revealed high engagement toward websites that have fake offers.

Sites were created for testing visitors’ behavior regarding applying for services and sharing their personal information.

The results of this social and awareness experience showed that the Jeddah audience has the highest engagements with 44.2 %, followed by Riyadh with 36.6 %, Dammam with 9.2 %, then Madinah and Makkah.

This experiment, which was conducted from June 29 until July 16, was made to study the audience’s behavior in responding to fake and tempting offers. Also, this study shows how cautious the audience are in protecting their personal information. The study results indicate that offers related to prizes and competitions have received the highest rate of visitors, with more than 71,000 hits.

The experiment was conducted by the Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee in cooperation with Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity Programming and Drones. As part of the experiment, the committee and Cybersecurity designed six digital websites, targeting different age groups and societal interests, in a way that considers the confidentiality of the participant.

None of the entered information is saved during the visitor journey, and a warning and awareness message was displayed to protect the data before starting the steps to complete data sharing.

The committee’s experiments on websites included presenting attractive offers targeting those who are interested in investments, education scholarships, competitions, prizes, travel, and tourism. The objective was to study the behavior of the targeted segments and their response to these offers along with showing their level of awareness in protecting their personal information in the digital world.

The experiment conducted was part of an Anti-Fraud Awareness Mega Campaign launched by the Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee in corporation with the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity Programming and Drones, under the slogan (#Be-careful).

The campaign targeted many digital and traditional channels to reach the targeted audience and raise awareness of fraud risks. It also aims to explore the most appropriate ways and methods which lead to fraud and ways to avoid them.

This Mega Campaign was a joint effort of many governmental and private entities to urge customers to protect their personal and banking information to avoid falling victim to fraud.

The Saudi Banks Media and Awareness Committee works through the campaign #be_careful to raise awareness of fraud and the methods that are used. The campaign stresses the importance of always verifying the identity of the caller, not transferring any sums of money to unknown sources, not sharing personal information through social media, checking links and ensuring the accuracy and credibility of the sites, making sure to read the correct links of the official websites, and not to publish anonymous links. 

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