Regulatory Alerts2020-01-01
Circular No. 206 Criminal Methods
The Palestine Monetary Authority issued Circular No. 2020/206 to mandate that all banks operating in Palestine implement enhanced safeguarding and precautionary measures against fraudulent schemes promoted via social media and communication platforms. The circular outlines specific scam tactics, including fake bank employee impersonation, frozen dollar scams, prize activation fraud, and sextortion, requiring banks to exercise due diligence on cash deposits and transfers, verify sender-beneficiary relationships, and block transactions that fail electronic transfer identification protocols under AML/CFT regulations. Additionally, banks are instructed to distribute customer awareness materials, train transfer staff on social media fraud risks, maintain internal suspect lists, report suspicious methods immediately to the AML-CFT department, utilize currency counting machines per prior directives, and automatically screen rapid transfers against domestic and international sanctions lists before execution.