A professional gang was brought down by the "pseudo-inheritance" operation, and a fraudulent "supportive labor" was caught.
Dubai Police reveal innovative hacking and fraud methods after the "Corona" pandemic
Luring victims with tempting shopping offers attributed to famous fast food restaurants.
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Brigadier General Jamal Al Jallaf: "The e-crime platform for reporting cybercrime has made an amazing leap in confronting and monitoring these methods."
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Dubai Police warned of electronic fraud methods and bank card penetration, which were developed during the recent period, in light of the gradual recovery from the “Corona” pandemic, including luring victims with attractive shopping offers, attributed to famous fast food restaurants, as well as exploiting the consequences of the pandemic in defrauding those wishing to hire from By asking fake jobs.
The Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation and Investigation in Dubai Police, Brigadier Jamal Al Jallaf told "Emirates Today" that the "e-crime" platform launched by Dubai Police to report cybercrime has made an amazing leap in addressing and monitoring these methods, as he communicated with it over the past year more From 25,000 people, they submitted comments, complaints and very important reports, which contributed to the arrest of cybercriminals.
He revealed the seizure of a gang of fraudsters in a court operation called "Phantom Inheritance", whose members targeted an Arab person who was residing in the country, and then continued to defraud his daughter after his death, until her uncle contacted the platform, and they were arrested, and a woman who defrauded more than Of the 20 victims of the “support worker” trick.
In detail, Brigadier General Jamal Al Jallaf said, in an interview with "Emirates Today", that cybercrime is constantly evolving, in light of the technical boom in the field of communications, and the dominance of social media over human lives, pointing out that the lifestyle at the present time is completely different from the nature of life. People before the Corona pandemic, so institutions and companies expanded the remote work system, many lost their jobs in different countries, and people became more inclined to online shopping, which led to the development of various forms of crimes related to this pattern.
He explained that a group of people who lost their jobs either started engaging in criminal activity, or turned into victims of fraudsters using the fictitious recruitment method, in addition to the expansion of online shopping opened the door to other fraudulent methods and bank card penetration crimes.
He added that the index of fraud reports and complaints has generally increased during the recent period, as fraudsters took advantage of the pandemic in defrauding methods related to the promotion of masks, sterilizers and vaccines, and developed their means after recovery.
He pointed out that fraudsters take advantage of the seasons and people's needs to propose new methods, such as a case registered by the Cybercrime Combating Department of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, in which the main accused is a Gulf woman, who took advantage of people's need for auxiliary labor before the month of Ramadan, and presented pictures of maids through an account in the "Instagram" application. Many people contacted her, and she used to take a contract provider, then evade them.
He stated that the Dubai Police electronic patrols monitored a note from a person who wrote that he had paid the advance, and discovered that he was a victim of fraud, so contacted him, obtained his statement, and set up an ambush for the owner of the account, and it turned out that she had a partner who works with her to lure and defraud the victims, and more than 20 were registered against her. She was seized and referred with her partner to the Public Prosecution.
Al-Jallaf stressed that the e-crime platform has achieved a great leap in monitoring and following up on these crimes, as the number of people who contacted the platform during the past year reached 25,841 people, who submitted comments, complaints, reports and valuable inquiries, and contributed to thwarting major crimes, such as arresting a fraud and hacker. The international “Hashpopy” and his gang, as well as the two gangs of foxes, in addition to contributing mainly to the arrest of dangerous criminals, who were involved in extortion and targeting children.
He pointed out that this remarkable turnout on the platform reflects the increasing awareness among community members of the nature of cybercrime, and the increase in the area of mutual trust between the public and the Dubai Police, pointing to receiving calls around the clock, and dealing with great appreciation and interest with callers in light of the great service they provide to protect the security of Society. Al Jallaf continued that the e-crime platform does not focus on the Emirate of Dubai only, but rather transmits the information it reaches to the partners in the security services in the various emirates of the country, in light of the fact that cybercrime crosses borders, and is not governed by a specific geographical scope.
And he revealed the seizure of a gang of professional fraudsters through a report received via the “e-crime” platform in a process called “fake inheritance”, which began with a report from an Arab person residing in his country, so that the work team discovered that the gang initially targeted an Arab resident, who was living in Dubai And he left for his homeland years ago.
Al-Jallaf said that the leader of the gang deluded the man that he had dues in a fund in Dubai, and that he had to pay certain fees so that the money could be released and sent to him in his country, and he had already received 7,000 dirhams from him, until the man died several years ago. He added that the fraudster called again the phone of the deceased, His daughter replied to him, and instead of stopping his activity, he came up with another criminal trick, and told her that he was communicating with her father about his dues in the fund, and he offered her the letters exchanged between them, and assured her that she and her brothers had an inheritance in Dubai, and that she had to pay 40,000 dirhams to get it. Pointing out that the trick tricked the daughter and she paid the amount, the fraudster thought that he had signed an easy catch, and asked her for 100,000 dirhams, after he offered her the green packages in the box.
Al-Jallaf pointed out that the girl informed her uncle of what happened, so the uncle acted wisely, and communicated with the Dubai Police via the “e-crime” platform, and a team was formed immediately from the anti-cybercrime men, who was able to identify the accused, and the uncle came to Dubai, and registered an official report In the incident, an ambush was set up and the gang consisting of three defendants, one of whom was African and two of Arab nationality, was seized, and they distributed roles among them, whether luring, defrauding or receiving money.
He explained that the fraudsters psychologically manipulate their victims, and develop their ideas and the way they speak, noting that the accused who communicated with the daughter played on her emotional chord, and established within her the conviction that he had a close relationship with her father, and that the latter trusted him.
In addition, the Deputy Director of the Anti-Cybercrime Department, Captain Abdullah Al-Shehhi, warned against entering credit card data on suspicious sites or applications, pointing out that fraudsters and hackers lure victims with fake offers, taking advantage of the transformation of many members of society to online shopping.
He told «Emirates Today» that one of the methods of fraud and hacking that the Dubai Police monitored is offering offers on fast-food meals at lower prices than their official counterpart, and instead of the person buying from the official application of the restaurant or licensed applications, he enters the sites of fraudsters in order to save two dirhams, or more. A little bit, and when he enters the payment link and enters the bank card numbers, his balance is seized, and instead of buying a sandwich for 20 dirhams, for example, he pays 18 dirhams, and loses 18 thousand because of it, just because he wants to save two dirhams.
He added that one of the frequent methods is also receiving a text message about the arrival of a shipment through one of the shipping companies, with a link to enter the company’s website, and when the victim clicks on the link, he finds a site that is almost identical to the company’s site, and believes that the message is correct, so he enters his credit card numbers to pay the fees, then discovers He was the victim of a hack.
Regarding the messages received from official bodies, and fraudsters exploit them to inflict victims, Al-Shehhi explained that it is impossible to penetrate a government agency, but the fraudsters psychologically manipulate the victims, and take advantage of the services provided by government agencies to give credibility to their deceptions, noting that the problem in this criminal method is that the victim does not read Never the letter that comes to him from the police or any government agency, which clearly states that the agency will not ask him to make any confidential data at all.
Al-Shehhi said that what everyone should know clearly is that no party, including the banks themselves, can contact the user to ask him for a password or personal information, because his data is already available to them, and the bank does not ask for any data unless the user contacts himself. And requesting a service, the employee asks for certain data to verify the identity of the caller, so no data should ever be disclosed to any party, whether the police or others.
Safe online shopping
Captain Abdullah Al-Shehhi explained that online shopping has become a modern feature that everyone should benefit from, and there are steps that must be adhered to to shop safely, the first of which is buying from licensed, well-known and insured sites, and staying away from random merchants.
He added that the next step is to read the product specifications carefully, so that some people do not fall prey to legal fraud. And the seller wrote it in the specifications.
Stolen tickets
And he warned against buying travel tickets through unknown intermediaries, because some pirates buy these tickets with stolen bank cards, and resell them, and when this is discovered, the bill will be doubled by the person who bought them from them, without verifying its authenticity from accredited travel agencies.
New law and heavy fines
The arbitrator and legal advisor, Muhammad Naguib, said that the new cybercrime law, issued by Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 in the matter of combating rumors and cybercrime, dealt in detail in several articles of electronic fraud crimes, and included very important amendments to the previous law issued in 2018, which stipulated imprisonment for a period of no less than one year, and a fine of no less than 250 thousand dirhams and not in excess of one million dirhams, whoever used any fraudulent method, took a false name, or assumed an incorrect capacity through the Internet or any information technology means.
It also stipulated in Article No. 15 that anyone who forges, counterfeits or copies a credit card, debit card or any electronic payment method shall be punished by imprisonment and a fine of no less than 200,000 dirhams and not more than two million dirhams, or one of these two penalties. Take possession of its data or information using information technology means or an information system.The same penalty shall be imposed on anyone who manufactures or designs any means of information technology, or a computer program, with the intention of facilitating any of the actions stipulated previously, and anyone who uses without permission a credit or debit card or any means of electronic payment or any of its data Or its information with the intention of obtaining for himself or for others the money or property of others, or benefiting from the services it produces from the services provided 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, knowing that it is illegal.
e-crime records 25,000 transactions and contributes to the detection of major crimes.
Fake jobs and tempting offers on fast foods to steal card data.
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