People have fallen victim to sites promoting sporting goods and tools suitable for home exercises, and later turned out to be interfaces to fraudsters who realize the need of people with this type of device, in light of the closing of gyms and not allowing sports outside, to protect members of society from the infection of the Corona virus () Covid-19).
Dubai police, through its official accounts on social networks, warned against entering bank data on untrusted sites, as they are fake pages, storing that data and using it illegally.
A security source told "Emirates Today" that "complaints were actually received from exposure to this type of fraud", pointing out that most of these sites are managed from abroad, but Dubai police, in cooperation with the relevant authorities, are seeking to block these suspicious websites and accounts on networks Social Media.
In detail, Maher Ali, a resident of Dubai, said that he used to exercise every day before the appearance of the Corona virus, and the country took precautionary measures, and searched for a source to buy the sports equipment he needed to do fitness exercises at home, and watched an attractive offer while browsing Facebook for a number of devices. , Provided by a commercial website he had not heard of before, which led him to enter to browse the presentations.
He added, "He did not doubt a moment about the nature of the site, because its design is perfect, and it does not differ at all from the well-known e-marketing sites, so he chose a set of tools, then he paid by credit card 400 dirhams."
He pointed out that the strange thing is not to take the usual procedures before deducting the amount, as he is supposed to receive a confirmation letter from the bank to ensure that he conducted the transaction himself, but that did not happen, and deducted the amount directly, and waited for the arrival of the tools he bought but to no avail, and realized that he signed A victim of a fraud, when he sent a complaint via the request follow-up service on this site, and received no response.
For his part, Mohamed Ali said that the prices of sports equipment suitable for training at home rose dramatically in well-known stores, so he looked for alternative sources from which he would buy a number of weights, a resistance rope, a rubber band and other tools.
He added that, as soon as he browsed the applications of famous reliable electronic stores in search of the prices of these tools, he immediately appeared, through social networks, offers on the same tools at attractive prices, so he resorted to buying some items for $ 150, withdrawing the amount from his card, and later discovered that he was a victim Scam.
While Ali Basil mentioned that he fell into the same trap, despite his relative experience in the field of electronic shopping, pointing out that the site from which he bought these tools seemed real, until he later discovered that it was a front for scammers, who took advantage of the people's need for the appropriate sports equipment for the home. For his part, a security source in Dubai Police said, "It is necessary to be cautious when buying online and take simple preventive steps from fraudsters, the most important of which is to verify the date of launch of the site. If it is recent, purchase should not be rushed, and try to verify its authenticity."
He added that it is also important to review the opinions of former users through the comments that appear on the pages of these sites on networks, because former victims usually warn of the frauds they have been exposed to, and it should be noted that these fraudsters sometimes publish positive comments to deceive their victims, so It is necessary to link the history and nature of the comments, to distinguish the real from the misleading.
The source stressed the need to use prepaid cards, which are intended for online purchase, because recording the data of the primary cards, whether the debit card or the credit card in these sites, may display them later for exploitation by hackers and scammers.
Dubai Police is seeking, in cooperation with the competent authorities, to block suspicious websites and accounts.
The need to use prepaid cards intended for online purchase.
Security warning against entering bank data in untrusted locations.
Payment system lockout
A security source in Dubai Police confirmed that the major sites are keen to secure their payment system to protect their customers, while those fake sites are subject to data being stolen, pointing out that the Google engine provides the ability to verify the reality of the sites, but in general you should pay attention to the location The trusted author begins with "https", not "http".