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Identity theft leaves Saudi heavily in debt [Saudi Gazette, The](Saudi Gazette, The Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Saudi Gazette report JUBAIL - Saudi national Majed Marzouq Al-Shammari has been suffering for the past 14 years due to an exploitation of his identity by an unknown person. Al-Shammari lost his civil status card 14 years ago. Despite taking all official measures including reporting the loss of his card, he is still being victimized by the fraudster, who exploited his name in buying mobile SIM cards from the Saudi Telecom Company (STC), aside from accumulating bills amounting to almost SR250,000. Al-Shammari came to know about the fraud when he applied for a mobile phone SIM card. "STC claimed that I had submitted an application for a mobile phone in Al-Ahsa governorate on Nov. 19, 2000. I was surprised when the STC employee told me that I have unpaid bills totaling SR222,667," Al-Shammari said. "All my attemepts to convince the STC employee that I did not submit an application for a mobile SIM card failed. I also tried to convince him that I have never been to Al-Ahsa. Subsequently I lodged a complaint with the STC office in Al-Jouf, which referred the complaint to STC in Al-Ahsa." He added: "The company came up with an application form for a mobile phone submitted on Nov. 19, 2000, which did not have a signature. The date showed that the application was submitted more than a month after I lost my identity card. I had announced in the press about the loss of my ID card on Oct. 10, 2000. I still have a copy of that announcement." Al-Shammari said he could not understand how the unpaid mobile bills reached almost SR250,000 when the maximum limit for the line was only SR5,000. He said his suffering began when STC blacklisted his name for nonpayment of bills. "I was deprived of all services. This forced me to submit a complaint at the Al-Jouf governorate," he said. "After the complaint, my name was deleted from the blacklist. The Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) wrote a letter to the governorate saying that my name has been deleted from the debt and a search is ongoing for the person who used my name to get the mobile phone. However, after some time, I was blacklisted again and I have been deprived of all services despite all the documents I have presented. I am appealing to the officials in the CITC and STC to be fair to me," Al-Shammari said. (c) 2014 The Saudi Gazette. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |