The Ministry of Interior called on citizens and residents to take full precautions and avoid any dealings with people, commercial outlets or online accounts that advertise cashing in devices and mobile phones or supplying immediate funds through deferred installment contracts tied to telecom companies. In a statement released Sunday on its official social media channels, the ministry described these operations as clear violations of legal and regulatory rules that lure individuals into signing overpriced commitments. Promoters often provide quick cash for new devices that are then transferred at discounts reaching 40 percent below market rates while requiring documents that inflate the debt well beyond the sum originally received.
The ministry stated that participants in such schemes can face criminal liability and risk becoming victims of exorbitant usury, scams, fraud or instruments in money laundering activities. It added that those who engage expose themselves to a range of legal transgressions and court consequences that can include travel restrictions and financial penalties. The interior ministry confirmed it will maintain cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as the Public Authority for Communications and Information Technology to monitor all non-compliant accounts and premises.
Actions against violators will encompass asset seizures, revocation of commercial licenses, administrative shutdowns of shops and referrals to prosecution for strict legal measures, according to the ministry’s statement. Justice Ministry statistics placed the number of travel ban decisions linked to mobile phone installment plans at 73,612 during 2023, part of a broader total of 153,784 travel bans and arrest procedures that year. The same figures showed 45,959 decisions to lift travel bans in 2023, reflecting the volume of cases that reach resolution after initial restrictions.
The 2023 data from the Justice Ministry indicated an increase of 13,779 procedures compared with the previous year, highlighting the persistent impact of installment-related disputes on residents. Many of these cases originate from arrangements in which individuals obtain cash by immediately reselling installment purchases at a loss but remain bound to higher repayment totals. The ministry’s latest warning builds on earlier enforcement patterns targeting unlicensed cash conversion practices across commercial complexes and online platforms.
Ministry of Interior officials noted that the schemes frequently target those seeking short-term liquidity to meet other obligations, only for the inflated contracts to create long-term legal obstacles. The statement stressed that legitimate device and service contracts must proceed through authorized providers to prevent such outcomes. Tracking efforts have already identified multiple outlets operating outside approved frameworks, the ministry reported.
