Just as everything has a season in which it thrives, fraud also has its seasons, when it disguises itself in masks tailored to people's needs and circumstances. Ramadan, holidays, the Hajj and Eid al-Adha seasons, the start of vacations and travel — all are seasons that boost financial fraud, which comes disguised as calls and messages carrying tempting offers, exploiting those moments when your thinking is less alert and your decisions more hasty, to find its opportunity to deceive you. The common denominator in all these seasons is that they create a logical, expected reason that makes the victim not suspicious of the message, and that is exactly what the fraudster seeks.

If you think that victims of financial fraud are inexperienced or have limited knowledge of technology, you are wrong, because reality tells completely different stories!! How many investors lost millions in a well-planned fraud, how many bank employees who know the details of banking systems fell victim to a phone call or a fake link, and how many financial experts who spent years among numbers and reports found themselves victims of a carefully crafted illusion!! Just as there are some fraudsters who work randomly, sending thousands of messages and making hundreds of calls, then waiting for someone to respond quickly — they are not looking for the perfect victim as much as they are looking for a quick victim — but on the other hand, there is another, more cunning type that does not rely on randomness alone, but on gathering information. These do not watch the person in the cinematic sense of the word, and they do not usually follow them on the street, but rather track their digital trail: posts on social media, leaked data, company names, job positions, announced travel, family relationships, and even financial interests that people leave behind without noticing. And it could be a cross-border criminal network, comprising international gangs that exchange information, methods, and techniques among themselves, and often run their operations from outside the borders of the targeted country. Therefore, anyone can be vulnerable to fraud that occurs within seconds, unless their quick wit helps them act. In our era, it is no longer a battle between hackers and systems, but has become a battle between patience and haste, and between thinking and reaction.

Interpol estimates indicate that the volume of financial fraud globally exceeds $440 billion annually, and this number may actually exceed the trillion-dollar mark, as many victims refrain from reporting out of shame or embarrassment!! On the local level, Saudi Arabia has taken notable steps to confront this phenomenon, most notably the Cabinet's decision to establish a joint operations room that brings together financial, regulatory, and judicial authorities under one umbrella, allowing for the freezing of suspicious funds and limiting transfers within less than an hour of the report. This speed of response is a critical factor, because the speed of recovering funds is often measured in hours, not days. The Kingdom also ranks first globally in cybersecurity indicators, and possesses an advanced digital infrastructure... But the paradox is that the large size of the economy and high per capita income make society a constant attractive target for external criminal networks, which calls for individual awareness parallel to institutional efforts.

Keep in mind that no matter how advanced institutional and technical tools become, the decisive moment in confronting financial fraud remains that individual moment, when the phone rings, or a message arrives carrying a link. So you are the first security barrier against financial fraud, which often begins with phrases designed to confuse you into making a quick decision. When you recognize the trap of phrases like 'the offer will end in minutes' or 'your account will be suspended immediately' and realize the importance of staying calm when someone tries to make you afraid or rushed, in those few seconds between fear and decision, some survive and even big investors fall.