Qatari Law Tightens Penalty for Online Fraud to Protect Victims

Dr. Yasser El Miniawy, Legal Counselor, confirmed that community awareness is the first step in addressing scams and frauds, whose perpetrators intend to carry out scams via the Internet or social media accounts due to the rapid spread of electronic means in our world.

In an interview with the Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq, he said, "The crime of fraud leads to the commission of other crimes, such as theft, plagiarism, deception, evasion, and extortion.

In addition to stealing financial data and banking information by entering suspicious online links such as fake contests, unrealistic advertising offers, and opening advertising links, aimed at luring victims to open their financial accounts, talk about them, or send them to others.

The crime of fraud is one of the serious crimes that fall on money, and it is a multi-behavior crime that includes methods of fraud, deception, evasion, deception, and fraud in order to seize the money of others.

Among the fraudulent methods, as mentioned in many cases before the courts, are to delude the victims into the existence of a profitable project, a forged incident, or a fabricated incident, or to engage in quick profit financial speculations.

Among the fraudulent methods is also the use of a computer to deceive customers or tempting offers through social media accounts that aim to attract and rob victims, especially young people, and there are also sudden phone calls asking people to update the data. Or paying bills or paying fines, for example, of which are some methods of online fraud.

Qatari law has tightened penalties for fraudsters and perpetrators of fraud, as Article 354 of Law No. 11 of 2004 stipulates, “He shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of three years, whoever is able to seize for himself or for another movable property or a bond proving a debt or resignation or by canceling, destroying, or modifying this document by fraudulent means or by taking a false name or an incorrect capacity in order to deceive the victim

And Article 355 states that, whoever disposes of movable property or real estate that he knows is not owned by him or does not have the right to dispose of it, or who previously disposed of it or contracted with it, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of three years.

Article 356 states that he is liable to imprisonment for a period of three years and a fine of not more than ten thousand riyals, whoever exploits a minor, his need, or his lack of experience, and obtains money or a debt bond from him for himself or for others, or by canceling, destroying or modifying this bond.

Article 360 of the Penal Code stipulates that he is liable to imprisonment for a period of three years and a fine of not more than ten thousand riyals, anyone who obtains, using fraudulent methods, a passport or a license, or any certificate issued by an official body, for himself or for others