Dubai police have warned of fraudulent e-mails carried out by impersonating public figures, celebrities and officials through social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.

"These scammers are posing as celebrities and public figures, and then claim that they have had a sudden problem abroad and are asking for quick financial assistance with a promise to refund these amounts once they return to the country," said Salem bin Salimin, deputy director of cyber crime.

He added that some fall into this trap because of the excess of good or sense of responsibility towards the public figure, including an elderly citizen knew that a public figure asking for help through his account on «Instagram», because of the loss of its purposes while traveling, asked her daughter to transfer funds to him directly, A social duty, and eventually discovered that she was the victim of a scam.

He pointed out that these scammers deceive them in many ways, including giving the most credibility to the account they use in fraud, adding to him other officials, government departments, and public figures, giving the impression that it is a real account and not fabricated, pointing out that the majority of those who fall in The trap of these scammers is new through the means of social communication, they can not confirm the validity of the calculation or falsity, and some are deceived by the nature of friends or followers who appear on this account and believe that it is true.

He pointed out that the fraudsters sometimes resort to sending random messages to celebrities or public figures to the users of the networks, asking them to help because the ways narrowed them, and could not communicate with anyone else, stressing that despite the naiveté of these methods and illogical, But some fall into this trap and divert money, especially as imaginary officials reward victims with big rewards when they return to the country.

He explained that there is another method used by these crooks when they succeed in penetrating a particular account on a network, and send to the list of friends with the account holder messages requesting the donation, in this case it is difficult for the person to verify whether the sender of the message the owner of the real account or anyone Other, and from the point of prevention not to respond at all with the senders of these messages, or at least make sure in another way, such as calling the account holder before losing any money.

Bin Salemin pointed out that frauds always work with people who are greedy, especially those who rely on traditional methods that the police have repeatedly warned of, such as telephone fraud, by contacting the target person and persuading him that he has won a major prize from a telecom company.

He said that the General Directorate of Combating Electronic Crime in Dubai Police is still receiving reports of crimes in this way. He pointed out that the fraudsters were initially satisfied with enticing the victims with big prizes and then asking them to transfer a telephone balance which the criminals sell later. Targeting and hacking their accounts and using them to buy products online.

He says that they are fooled in many ways. They first convince the victim that he is a real winner by telling him the numbers on his phone. When he checks the slide, he discovers that the numbers are already there, and he flies with the grand prize, unaware that these numbers are fixed in all segments. Ready to do anything.

He added that the second stage of the trick is to turn it into a sound system that is somewhat similar to the standard system used by banks. It is transferred from one person to another asking for confidential data such as the credit card number and the security triple code on the back of the card. Some victims may go further than And tell the fraudsters the secret code of the card, pointing out that an Arab person withdrew from his card more than 10 thousand dirhams in the same way as the granting of confidential data to fraudsters.

Many of the victims of these crimes are educated people who are supposed to have enough awareness, but psychologists manipulate them and evoke greed in them, making them react to them and behave in a naive manner. One of these women turned 3,000 dirhams into a gang that convinced them to win 500,000 dirhams.

He explained that one of the fraudulent methods monitored by electronic patrols in Dubai Police is also fictitious accounts of health food delivery companies, suitable for athletes or dieters. They make monthly or weekly offers. When money is transferred to them, victims discover that they have fallen into the trap of fraudsters, So it is necessary to verify by telephone or visit the company before transferring money to it.

Close

Dubai Police has closed 6,134 accounts and sites used for crimes and suspicious activities in cooperation with the competent authorities, led by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) and its suppliers, in the first six months of this year. Dubai Police monitors any suspicious practices, The Internet in general, through its electronic patrols.

1933 Complaint

Dubai Police has been keen to diversify the means of communication to facilitate the community and to ensure the preservation of a great deal of confidentiality, allocated the platform "ekrime" on the link, www.ecrime.ae, since last March, which received a 1933 complaint within six months, Communicate through the Unified Call Center 901.

Lt. Col. Salem bin Salimin:

"The General Directorate for Combating Electronic Crime continues to receive reports of telephone fraud crimes".

- Electronic patrols in the Dubai Police spotted fake accounts of health food delivery companies.