KUWAIT: As the parliamentary foreign affairs committee met victims of a real estate scam and heard their complaints, committee rapporteur MP Abdullah Fahhad said the number of victims is in the thousands, who were swindled out of KD 1 billion. Fahhad said he asked the foreign ministry to help citizens who were defrauded abroad. He said the state did not pay attention to this problem until it became known in the media and the appearance of victims in the thousands. - Al-Jarida

Scam
An employee in the oil sector lost KD 4,000 from his bank account within minutes after receiving a call from a swindler who told him he had won KD 20,000. This event comes on the heels of many other similar cases despite warnings not to give PIN codes to anyone, and no one is supposed to ask for such information. A police source said a citizen in his 50s told Ardhiya police station he received a call from an English-speaking person who told him he had won KD 20,000 and asked for his account number. He then asked for the PIN. The citizen then received a message telling him the money was withdrawn. Investigations are underway. - Al-Anbaa