Study of the Spread of Commercial Fraud Sites in Riyadh Using Geographic Information Systems

The city of Riyadh developed at an accelerated pace, accompanied by an increase in the population, the development of the commercial sector in all its forms, and a diversification of commercial products. However, some activities accompanied this development which made the city of Riyadh suffer from the merchants of fraudulent goods and the emergence of the phenomenon of commercial fraud in different and varied locations in the city. The Ministry of Commerce has identified a number of areas where there are high cases of commercial fraud and intensified the commercial control campaigns on them. This made the practitioners of commercial fraud go to new areas so as to move away from the areas of suspicion to avoid the intensity of commercial control over such areas, and hence the opportunity of practicing commercial fraud away from the eyes of observers and commercial control teams. This study seeks to find out how cases of commercial fraud have spread in the city of Riyadh during the years 2017 to 2019. The study found that the areas with most cases of commercial fraud during these years are located in the north and center of Riyadh. The results show that in north of Riyadh the number of cases of commercial fraud has doubled last year, compared to the three years studied. It was noted that the concerned commercial control officials are required to intensify their campaigns in these new areas to which the practitioners of commercial fraud have moved in an attempt to avoid the suspicious sites.