Palestine Monetary Authority

PALESTINE MONETARY AUTHORITY

Circular No. (2020/206)
To All Banks Operating in Palestine
Date: Tuesday, November 03, 2020

Subject: Criminal Methods

The Palestine Monetary Authority urges banks to take necessary safeguarding and precautionary measures to avoid criminal methods that fall under fraud and extortion crimes stipulated under Article (3) of Law Decree No. (20) of 2015 on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and its amendments. These methods include receiving messages or calls via communication and social media platforms from fraudulent individuals residing inside or outside the State of Palestine, urging them to:

A. Disclose information related to their bank accounts, issued bank card numbers, usernames, and passwords for internet banking services under the pretext that they are bank employees aiming to update customer data at the bank, after which fraudsters hack customer data and use it for their own benefit in online purchases, executing money transfers, or performing electronic payment services such as bill payments and mobile top-ups.

B. Send a money transfer for a specified amount to purchase frozen dollars at a price lower than the nominal purchase value, in exchange for the fraudster's commitment to send a money transfer in return for a value greater than the sent transfer amount, i.e., the purchase price; this is known as the "frozen dollar scam".

For example: Sending a transfer of $3,000 in exchange for receiving a transfer of $5,000, with the knowledge that the fraudster may start by persuading the victim to send a small amount and then send a larger transfer to reassure the victim, who then sends a larger amount, after which the fraudster cuts off communication.

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Palestine Monetary Authority

PALESTINE MONETARY AUTHORITY

C. Send a money transfer to activate a valuable transfer to be sent to them in the form of prizes or aid, and the transfer receipt is often forged with the statement "The transfer will not be delivered to the beneficiary before it is modified", and/or contacting citizens and defrauding them using fake social media pages bearing the names of prominent figures, including but not limited to: names of princes, princesses, and television show hosts.

D. Send a transfer to participate in a draw for large monetary and in-kind prizes and/or send a transfer for a nominal amount to purchase a luxury car.

E. Send a money transfer with the aim of extorting citizens out of fear of publishing video clips or recorded materials of them.

In order to safeguard the integrity and stability of the banking sector and mitigate the risks of money laundering and financing of terrorism, and to prevent citizens from falling victim to fraud and deception crimes, we reiterate the necessity of adopting the following precautionary, safeguarding, and precautionary measures, which include:

1. Exercise due diligence to identify the source of funds for cash deposits and identify and verify the purpose of transfers and financial relationships between the sender and the beneficiary, and support this with supporting documents. Transfers shall not be executed if the identification procedures for electronic transfers stipulated under Article (7) of Instruction No. (2) of 2016 of the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism are not met.

2. Prepare awareness and educational leaflets for customers to mitigate the risks of criminal methods, which shall be distributed periodically at the bank's headquarters and branches and through the bank's social media channels.

3. Enhance the capabilities of transfer staff regarding the risks of fraud and deception crimes via communication and social media platforms, and strengthen and raise customer awareness of these risks before executing financial transfers.

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Palestine Monetary Authority

PALESTINE MONETARY AUTHORITY

4. Comply with the reporting obligations stipulated under the provisions of Law Decree No. (20) of 2015 on Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and the instructions issued pursuant thereto.

5. Work on maintaining internal lists of persons suspected of committing the aforementioned criminal methods.

6. Notify the Palestine Monetary Authority immediately upon discovering the aforementioned criminal methods, by sending the details and circumstances of these methods via the approved email address of the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Department: AML-CFT@pma.ps

7. Comply with the requirement to provide currency counting and inspection machines in accordance with the requirements of Circular (2013/169).

8. Refrain from executing rapid financial transfers before automatically querying the names of customers and beneficiaries of those transfers against the bank's internal blacklist and the effective local and international sanctions and freezing lists in the State of Palestine.

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Supervision Group
Palestine Monetary Authority

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Note:
Ramallah & Al-Bireh Governorate - Palestine P.O. Box 452 info@pma.ps | Fax: +970 2 2415310 | Tel: +970 2 2415251 Gaza - Palestine P.O. Box 4026 Fax: +970 8 2844487 | Tel: +970 8 2825713 www.pma.ps