Communications experts have warned of the increase in fraud, affected by the repercussions of the emerging Corona virus (Covid-19), and explained to «Emirates Today» that fraud and sending anonymous and fake links are usually active in order to exploit the prevailing tension and uncertainty, and abound in times of crisis , And those in charge of it exploit cases of public concern to obtain user data and use it in organized scams, outlining four steps to verify whether links are real or fake before providing any information through them.
It is noteworthy that many official agencies, notably the Central Bank, the Federal Tax Authority, Etisalat Group, and the Abu Dhabi Police, have warned against fraud by using their name, asking the public not to respond to them, and report them.
Fraudulent items
In detail, Mohammed Al-Faqi, an expert in the communications and digital media sector and a lecturer at the University College in Dubai, said that some fraudulent elements are currently active intensively in an attempt to exploit the crisis of the emerging global corona virus. Al-Fiqi added that fraud increases in times of crisis and emergency, such as the Corona virus, through several methods, the most prominent of which is the exploitation of fake web links to obtain information and data from a large number of users, then use them in organized fraud.
He pointed out to «Emirates Today» that there are elements that work in the marketing sector and have relationships with fraudulent elements that collect large amounts of data, some of which are related to certain age or study groups, and then sell them for use in fraud operations.
Mechanism of Action
Al-Fiqi continued: «The beginning is usually by requesting simple information from users that does not cause damages such as names, ages, and phone numbers, then links are sent that require registrants to complete their data such as nationality, job, and place of residence, then the fraudsters then request more important information such as numbers Credit cards, noting that no withdrawals are required in the beginning, but rather those who are reassuring may be reassured by sending messages that no money will be withdrawn from them at present.
Data exploitation
Al-Fiqi stressed that these fraudsters collect the data that they obtained from the links, and use them to conduct frauds, or sell them to organized gangs, and they may sell these cards in bulk at simple prices on the Internet for exploitation in purchases through websites where card owners have previously registered, and therefore no data is requested. New, which facilitates fraud.
He pointed out that the goals of fraud operations are not related to the use of data in fraud and financial fraud operations only, although this is the most common use, but rather using it in illegal trade such as weapons, drugs and slaves.
Fake links
Al-Faki identified four steps to identify fake links, namely: Ensuring that the form to be filled out via the link is through the official website of the company or the authority, pointing out that many fake links are through the use of links on Google or Microsoft.
Al-Fiqi asked the users to enter the official website of the company or the authority to which the form is attributed, as a second step to verify the existence of the form on the official website, then verify that the link ends with ".ae", because that means that the link is documented in the UAE and is subject to oversight by the General Authority for Regulation Communications, which set strict standards for validating links. He cautioned that the end of the link with ". Com", or ".org" raises a great possibility that it is a fake.
As for the fourth step, it is to verify the presence of "https" in the name of the website and not "http", explaining that the first means that it is documented and secure, and that no "hackers" can enter through it, while the second means that it is not secure and allows entry through it easily.
Al-Fiqi called on the companies that were exploited using fake links to submit reports to the police and the concerned authorities, because this is considered a fraud and exploitation of a trademark in the operations of the public, and also called for allocating a specific phone number in these cases, to receive calls or inquiries from those who provided information through Those links, to check on their own.
Uncertainty
For his part, the communications expert, Ahmed Hamdi, said that fraud and sending anonymous and fake links are currently active, taking advantage of the prevailing tension and uncertainty, due to the global “Corona” virus outbreak, indicating that fraudulent links abound in times of crisis, and those involved exploit them Cases of general anxiety. He added that these links mostly aim to carry out frauds using the collected data, and pertain to a large number of users, as well as record a significant increase in the number of visitors to a particular site. He stressed the importance of submitting communications to the concerned authorities in the country, in order to limit these operations and take strict measures regarding them.
Official websites do not require payment of money
A member of the computer emergency team affiliated with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, Abdullah Al-Jallaf, said that the current period witnesses new types of fraud, and focuses on using sites similar to the sites of official entities, stressing not to interact with them, reporting them via Ecrime, and communicating with the official sites directly.
Al-Jallaf added that the official websites do not require users to pay any financial amounts upon entering them, nor do they use the threat method used by fraudsters, pointing out that these fraudulent links target the users' money, obtaining their personal and financial data and exploiting them in fraudulent operations.