Saudi Arabia's rural development authority warns against fraud: Registration for rural support is free
The Sustainable Rural Agricultural Development Program, "Reef Saudi Arabia," issued a strong warning to citizens and farmers against dealing with suspicious accounts and individuals promoting registration services for the program in exchange for money, or those claiming to have the authority to expedite the disbursement of support funds. The program emphasized that these claims are completely false and fall under the category of cybercrimes and financial fraud aimed at exploiting the needs of beneficiaries.
Registration is free and no intermediaries are needed
The program administration stressed that the “Rural Support” electronic portal is the official and only approved channel for submitting support requests, noting that the registration mechanism was designed to be 100% free and available to everyone in easy steps, without the need to pay any administrative fees or resort to external intermediaries who claim to provide fictitious facilities.
The program considers any request received by a beneficiary to transfer funds or disclose confidential and sensitive data—such as bank account PINs or verification codes for the National Unified Access Portal—as conclusive evidence of an attempted fraud. The program urges all those affected to immediately report such incidents to the relevant authorities and to refrain from responding to them under any circumstances to protect their privacy and financial assets.
Official statements and ongoing technical support
In this context, the program's official spokesperson, Majid Al-Buraikan, explained that the program's digital platform operates according to the highest technical standards to ensure ease of use and transparent procedures, thus eliminating the need for any external human intervention. Al-Buraikan noted that the program provides dedicated and free technical support channels available around the clock to answer inquiries from farmers and productive families and help them overcome any technical obstacles they may encounter during registration.
Al-Buraikan added that the “Reef Saudi Arabia” strategy places the protection of beneficiaries’ data at the top of its priorities, while ensuring that financial support reaches its actual beneficiaries according to precise regulatory requirements, away from the manipulation methods employed by some unregulated marketers through social media platforms.
Program context and its strategic importance
This warning comes at a time when the agricultural sector in Saudi Arabia is undergoing a major transformation, with the Riffa program being a key enabler for achieving the Kingdom's Vision 2030 food security goals. Since its inception, the program has aimed to improve the livelihoods of small farmers and productive families in rural areas, and to increase self-sufficiency rates in several vital sectors.
The program covers diverse agricultural sectors, including Arabica coffee cultivation, beekeeping and honey production, fruit farming (such as pomegranates, figs, and grapes), rainfed crops (sorghum, sesame, and millet), as well as the rose and aromatic plant sector. Its importance lies in its pivotal role in reducing rural-to-urban migration and creating sustainable employment opportunities for young men and women in rural areas.
Economic and social impact
The role of "Reef Saudi Arabia" extends beyond direct financial support to include qualifying and training farmers in the latest agricultural practices, thus contributing to increased productivity and improved quality of local products to compete globally. Protecting this support from fraud is paramount to ensuring the continued progress of development in the targeted regions, as these initiatives contribute to boosting the Kingdom's agricultural GDP.
The program reiterated its call to all those wishing to benefit from the support to obtain information only from official sources, and to be accurate in dealing with electronic links, in order to ensure the safety of their legal status and preserve their rights.
