Ministry of Commerce clarified that the submission of commercial communications can be made only through its Balagh Tijari App or unified number 1900

The Ministry of Commerce has made it clear that only its Balagh Tijari App or the universal number 1900 may be used to submit commercial messages, including fraud notifications. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the ministry claimed that neither other organisations nor websites have been tasked with carrying out this goal.

The ministry's explanation followed its observation of new deceptive tactics used by some websites purporting to be experts in handling business correspondence. The ministry warned customers to avoid engaging with phoney websites and individuals who pose as the ministry and defraud customers after getting their personal information and credentials fraudulently.

The ministry reported that it has kept an eye on several fraud instances in which victims of fraud shared their personal information and login passwords with phoney and counterfeit websites, making them easy pickings for fraudsters. These websites made claims about connections to the ministry.

Additionally, they request personal information from users on phoney websites, exchange information on social networking sites, or reply to messages from outside the Kingdom. They use deceptive techniques to steal private data, like bank account numbers, passwords and user credentials, or OTP verification codes.

The government advised against sharing such private information with anybody. Customers were advised not to click on any bogus links found in search results that would direct them to phoney pages using the ministry's name as a front.

The ministry emphasised that it never requests from customers their account numbers, ATM cards, passwords, or verification codes. The ministry declared that it only accepts messages through its authorised channels, which include the Balagh Tijari application (https://mc.gov.sa/C-app) and the ministry's unified phone number 1900.