AL-AHSA – Some cell phone shops tend to buy used cell phones and do not return old memory cards to sellers even though they know they are breaking the law, Al-Hayat daily reported. This has gotten a lot of people into trouble, especially women who have fallen prey to unsavory characters who blackmail those women into paying them money so that they do not post their personal photos and videos online. A lot of women do not realize the big mistake they make when they leave the memory card inside their cell phones before selling them. Deleting all files on the memory card does not mean that those files are not restorable. They can be restored using special software, but the majority of customers are not aware of this. Muhammad Abdullah, the owner of a cell phone shop, said many of his customers, particularly women, leave their memory card inside their cell phone when they bring their devices in for maintenance. Some salesmen can restore all the deleted files on the memory card. “Some salesmen don't bring women customers' attention to this fact and don't even return the memory card to them. “I always tell customers who want to sell their cell phones to destroy their memory cards because some people might take advantage of the restored files and blackmail them.” Abdullah told Al-Hayat that he heard stories about some cell phone store owners who posted personal photos and videos of female customers online without them knowing. Abdulmonem Al-Suwailim, a software technician, said: “If you visit YouTube, you'll find a lot of videos showing girls dancing and other racy behavior. “Most of those videos were posted without the knowledge of those featured in them and the culprit is the memory card.” Mirfat Muhammad, citizen, said she had to calm her friend down after the latter lost her cell phone inside a mall. Her phone was full of personal photos of her and her family. “She cried a lot because she was worried someone would post the photos online. “Ever since that incident, I have destroyed my memory card and never used my cell phone to take personal photos.” Khalid Al-Shwaiheen, who owns a cell phone shop, said even photos deleted from iPhones, which do not use memory cards, can be restored with special software.
