6 Tourist Scams in Dammam

You land at King Fahd International Airport after a long flight and head to the taxi queue.

A driver waves you over enthusiastically, loads your bags, and pulls away before you can check the meter. Five minutes into the ride he casually mentions, 'Meter is broken today, but I give you good price.' When you arrive at your hotel in Al Shatea, he demands 150 SAR for what should be a 40-50 SAR trip. If you protest, he points to your bags still in the trunk. As expats on Saudi forums warn, unlicensed drivers often intercept passengers before they reach the official taxi line, and the broken meter excuse is how the overcharging begins.

You're walking through the arrivals hall at King Fahd Airport looking a bit lost when a well-dressed man approaches with an official-seeming badge.

'Welcome to Saudi Arabia! Please, let me see your passport and visa -- I need to verify your entry.' He examines your documents carefully, then says there's a small problem with your paperwork and guides you toward a waiting car outside instead of to the official taxi stand. As travel safety forums note, these imposters target confused-looking tourists and steer them toward unlicensed taxis where overcharging is guaranteed. Real immigration officials never approach you outside the passport control area.

You're browsing the gold souk in Dammam, admiring intricate necklaces and bracelets.

A shopkeeper invites you in for tea and shows you a stunning 21-karat gold set at what seems like a bargain price. You agree to buy and he wraps it up beautifully. Back at your hotel, you notice the pieces feel lighter than expected. As reported by Arab News and expat forums, fake gold has been a recurring problem in Saudi souks, with some vendors selling gold-plated items as solid gold, particularly to tourists and pilgrims who may not know how to verify karat markings. The piece you paid 2,000 SAR for might be worth a fraction of that.

You're strolling along the Corniche in the evening, enjoying the Gulf breeze, when you feel something wet land on your shoulder.

You look up -- no birds in sight. Before you can react, a helpful stranger appears with tissues and cleaning spray. 'Bird dropping! Very dirty, let me help!' As he fusses over your shoulder, dabbing and wiping, his partner works your pockets or bag from the other side. By the time you realize the white paste was squirted by the first accomplice, your wallet is gone. As travelers on Middle East forums have warned, this classic distraction theft has been reported across Gulf cities including the Eastern Province.

You arrive in Dammam for a new job and need wheels fast, so you browse Haraj and OpenSooq and spot a 2019 Toyota Camry listed for SAR 38,000 (about $10,100).

A few thousand below every other Camry on the page. The 'seller' messages on WhatsApp in fluent English, says he is a departing expat in Al-Faisaliyah who must sell before his flight, and asks for a SAR 3,000 (about $800) deposit by STC Pay to 'hold' the car. The moment you transfer, he stops replying and the listing vanishes.

This is one of the most-reported newcomer scams in the Eastern Province. Gulf News reported that Saudi authorities busted a ring of Bangladeshi and Syrian nationals running exactly this scheme: fake digital platforms advertising vehicles they did not own at below-market prices, then funneling deposits abroad through illegal money-transfer channels. T&H Consulting's Saudi scam guide describes the identical pattern — fake listings on Haraj or OLX, deposits demanded via STC Pay or bank transfer, then the account goes dark. Expat.com's Saudi forum carries even larger versions: one poster described a fraudster posing as a serviced-apartment owner who collected deposits on the same room from many newcomers and vanished with roughly SAR 500,000.

The tells are consistent. A price noticeably under market, a sob-story reason to rush (flight tomorrow, leaving the Kingdom), and a refusal to meet before you pay are the core of it. Real Dammam sellers expect you to inspect the car in person — often at a Fahas vehicle-inspection center — and to transfer money only after you have the keys and Istimara (registration) in hand. Scammers push you to lock it in sight-unseen with a 'deposit,' because the deposit is the entire scam.

If money does leave your account, speed matters: T&H notes Saudi bank transfers can sometimes be reversed if reported within 24–48 hours, and the national fraud line 330330 operates 24/7. Never send a deposit by STC Pay or bank transfer for a car or apartment you have not inspected in person — meet the seller, verify the Istimara, and pay only at handover.

Your phone buzzes with an SMS that looks like Saudi Post or Aramex: 'Your parcel is held in Dammam.

Pay SAR 17 (about $4.50) customs clearance to release delivery,' followed by a link. The fee is tiny and you really are expecting an order, so you tap through to a page that mirrors the courier's branding, enter your card number to pay the few riyals — and within minutes a far larger charge hits your account.

Cybersecurity firm Group-IB documented this campaign in detail, and the Dammam angle is literally baked into the code: the phishing pages route victim data through scripts named by city — dammam.php, riyadh.php, jeddah.php — depending on which local courier brand is being faked. Group-IB found over 270 fraudulent domains across the Middle East impersonating more than 13 delivery brands, with templates 'thoroughly localized' to show each victim their local postal brand and currency. Al Arabiya and ITP.net both reported the wave. The genius of it is the small fee: a SAR 15–20 'customs charge' feels too trivial to be a scam, so people hand over card details they would never otherwise share.

The sting is in what happens next. Group-IB describes a man-in-the-middle technique: the card data you type is fed into the real bank site by the scammer to start a much bigger transaction, then you are asked to enter the one-time password (OTP) on the fake page — so your own OTP authorizes the fraud. Saudi Arabia's Communications, Space & Technology Commission (CST) stresses the underlying rule: genuine couriers and government services do not collect payments or card details through SMS links.

Legitimate customs or delivery fees in the Kingdom are settled inside the courier's official app or website, never via a link texted to you. Treat any SMS asking you to 'pay a small fee' to release a parcel as phishing — never enter card details or an OTP from a texted link, and report the sender to CST on 330330.