Kuwaiti man falls victim to roadside scam, loses pricy cellphone

Cairo: Kuwaiti police are searching for an anonymous person accused of conning a citizen out of his luxury mobile phone.

The victim filed a legal complaint to police in Al Ahmadi governorate south of Kuwait City, claiming that a person riding in a car stopped him and asked to using his iPhone mobile after saying his mobile had run out of charge and he wanted to make an emergency call.

The victim mentioned to police the licence number of the car, the description of his stolen mobile, and its serial number.

But much to his astonishment, the self-styled caller sped off in his US-made car with the iPhone 15 Pro. A security source did not rule out the possibility that the vehicle used by the fraudster was stolen or at least carried a stolen number plate.

"Often this category of criminals don't use the stolen mobiles in Kuwait because they will be inevitably arrested. As soon as the stolen mobile is used in making calls, the user will be caught," the source added.

Nearly 10,000 fraud and swindling cases have been heard by courts in Kuwait over the past three years, according to a recent media report.

The number of fraud cases in the country has gone up despite repeated official warnings to citizens and expatriates to be on guard against potential fraudsters and their innovative tricks, Al Qabas newspaper quoted what it termed as a well-informed source as saying.

Cases related to real-estate scams came first, followed by bogus investment deals inside Kuwait or abroad, and fraud linked to luxury car purchases, which have victimised 500 citizens and foreign residents, according to the source.