After convincing them of an unfamiliar way to transfer money

Fraudsters hack into the accounts of “personal items sellers” .. in an innovative way

“I know that the method is naive, and I should not have been deceived by it, but they have a great ability to persuade.” With this phrase, one of the victims of a new method of electronic fraud and bank card data penetration began her conversation with "Emirates Today", asking not to blame her for falling into the trap. The scammers, who started targeting a different segment from the type of their "traditional" victims, which is the segment of sellers of personal items through the famous shopping sites.

A security source - who preferred not to be named - told «Emirates Today» that the most common method is to lure buyers and hack their bank data in light of the fact that they are the person who needs to pay or transfer money, while luring sellers is an innovative and new method, but it is extremely naive, and it is assumed Let no one fall into it, as it makes absolutely no sense for a person to disclose their confidential credit card information in a transaction in which they are the selling party.

In detail, one of the victims of this fraudulent method said that the incident began when she decided to offer her table for sale on a famous site, as a woman contacted her via the “WhatsApp” application, within hours, and expressed her interest in buying the table, and did not exhaust her in any negotiations about the price, but rather She quickly agreed to buy it at the price the seller had specified.

She added that she had informed her that she would send someone to take the table, but that she would not be able to transfer money to her except by placing the money in the seller's credit card, and sent her a link that led her directly to a site with the logo of a government agency, and it contains fields to be filled with credit card information.

The victim indicated that she initially complained about the unfamiliar way to transfer money, especially since she had never heard of the government agency providing this service.

She expressed her doubts to the fraud, but the latter reassured her, assuring her that it was a safe and easy way.

The victim continued that she decided to grab the stick in the middle and secure herself, so she transferred the amount in her card account to a friend of hers, and put data, including the card number, the security code on her back, and the expiry date, and she waited a few hours, but nothing happened, and she did not receive any Money, so I contacted the fraudster again, who asked her to put in another card, because the latter is not working.

I already put the data of a second card, and then I was surprised by an attempt to withdraw an amount and the transaction was rejected because there was not enough balance on it.

I finally realized that she was a potential victim of a scam.

She indicated that she took the initiative to contact her bank, and the employee knew when she told him what had happened that it was fraud, and assured her that the incident was frequent, and the two cards were suspended immediately and her bank account was frozen as a precaution.

She explained that she received an immediate call after that from the Al-Amin service, in which he asked her to block the WhatsApp number from which the fraudster communicated with her, and gave her other necessary instructions.

The same trick did not affect another seller, residing in Dubai, who offered his television set for sale through a website, and received a text message via “WhatsApp” from a number that begins with a code from outside the country.

After a short talk about the state of the TV, the author assured him of his desire to buy it, and they agreed on the price, then he was surprised by the latter telling him that he would deposit the money in his credit card through a transfer service via the postal website.

The seller told "Emirates Today": "I did not believe his words, and I told him that I would only accept cash payment.

Despite his attempts to convince me that this was an easier method and suitable for his circumstances, I did not coordinate this fraudulent method, until he got tired of me and did not contact me again.

I later confirmed that he is a fraud, and that there are people who have fallen into this trap, after being lured to sell their possessions at attractive prices.”

For his part, a security source - who preferred not to be named - said that “the most common method is to lure buyers and hack their bank data in light of the fact that they are the person who needs to pay or transfer money,” and that “lure sellers is an innovative and new method, but it is extremely naive, and it is assumed That no one fall into it, as it is not logical at all for a person to disclose his secret credit card information in a transaction in which he is a seller.”

He added that it is normal when selling items or expecting to receive money from a person or entity that the seller or the recipient of the money send his bank account number to transfer the money to him, but it is strictly prohibited and in any way to disclose any confidential data for the cards, whether the card number or its expiry date Or the security code or the one-time password that the bank sends to the card holder to ensure that he is the owner of the transaction.

He stressed that "the anti-cybercrime departments are doing their utmost to address these crimes, but there is a responsibility that falls on account and card holders, especially in light of the ongoing awareness campaigns carried out by the police, banks and agencies to warn against disclosing confidential bank data."

A security source:

• «Why does a person disclose his confidential data in the process of buying and selling... when he is the seller»?

Imprisonment and a fine of up to one million dirhams

The new Cybercrime Law, issued by Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 regarding combating rumors and cybercrime, deals with the penalty for seizing and forging card and bank account data, in Article No. 15

It stipulated that whoever forged, counterfeited or copied a credit card, debit card or any means of electronic payment, or who seized its data or information using Information technology means or information system.

The same penalty shall be imposed on whoever manufactures or designs any means of information technology, or information program, with the intention of facilitating any of the actions stipulated previously, and whoever uses without permission a credit or debit card or any means of electronic payment or any of its data or its information with the intent of obtaining for himself or for others, money or property of others or benefiting from the services offered by others, as well as anyone who accepts dealing with these counterfeit, imitation or copied cards, or other electronic payment methods, or the data of electronic payment methods seized in a manner Illegal with the knowledge of its illegality.

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