Saudi Arabian Oil Co foils fake money transfer bid

Saudi Arabian Oil Co. on Monday said that it foiled a fraud attempt involving scammers pretending to work for India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) after a newspaper report claimed the kingdom’s oil firm was the victim of a massive cybercrime.

A statement by Saudi Aramco said the fraud involved a fake money transfer, without elaborating.

The statement, carried on Sunday night on the official Saudi Press Agency, said: “The aborted attempt did not financially affect any of the two companies or their commercial relations.”

The statement comes after a newspaper report last week claimed quoting Mumbai police officers, that Saudi Aramco paid out `197 crore ($30.3 million) to fraudsters who faked an email address at ONGC.