Police warn against revealing bank statements

Fraudsters politely ask victims' permission to steal their money

Abu Dhabi Police called on individuals not to respond to suspicious emails.

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The Ministry of Interior and the police forces warn of the new methods used by fraudsters to steal personal data and bank accounts, and despite the implementation of several awareness campaigns, some people still overlook these warnings, and unintentionally help the fraudster to steal their money in a matter of seconds through the “OTP” code. Which banks send to the customer on his personal phone before executing the money transfer process.

During the past years, police authorities revealed that a number of people had fallen into financial fraud, due to the lack of caution, as they enabled the fraudsters to obtain the secret numbers of bank cards and

, and then their money was stolen.

In detail, people told "Emirates Today" that they received phone calls from unknown persons, claiming that they were from financial institutions, and they requested the "OTP" code, which was sent to them in a text message, in order to update their data and not stop their credit cards.

Mustafa Mohamed stated that what is remarkable about the new fraudsters’ communications is that they are keen to speak tactfully, politely and with high confidence, as one of them asked him for permission politely and intimately, to provide him with the bank verification code that was sent to him, in order to complete the process of updating his bank data, indicating that he quickly realized that the caller Hustler, disconnect.

Ahmed Jamal agreed with him, stressing that the fraudster often shows appreciation and respect to the victim when he calls him, uses greeting phrases, such as “good morning or good evening”, and deceptively expresses to the victim his fear that his accounts will be suspended if he does not update the data immediately, which deceives Some, make him believe what the fraudster says, and provide him with his bank statements.

Muhammad Ramadan stated that the methods of fraudsters in order to steal bank data are developing on a daily basis, and it is important to constantly raise awareness and be wary of disclosing such data, as well as the verification code that the bank sends before completing the payment or electronic transfer process.

He stated that his wife almost fell victim to a scammer, had she not realized in time that the caller was calling from a mobile phone, not a land line, which made her doubt the identity of the caller, and immediately hung up the phone.

For its part, Abu Dhabi Police called on individuals not to respond to anonymous calls, emails, or regular suspicious messages.

She urged bank customers to communicate with the banks that provide banking services to them directly through their phone numbers on their websites, pointing out that fraudsters send electronic links, or contact victims by phone, and ask them to provide them with their bank data, citing several reasons, including the failure to block the ATM card. Or under the pretext of updating the data, or claiming that the customer won a prize, which he won in a competition in which he did not participate in the first place.

Abu Dhabi Police advised the public not to share their confidential information with anyone, whether it is online banking passwords, ATM PINs, security number (CCV) or password.

She stressed the importance of expediting the reporting of any fraudulent communications received by unknown persons asking them for their banking data, by contacting the Aman service at the toll-free number

, or via messages

, and in the case of contacting the bank, informing the nearest police station.

International studies in the field of electronic fraud stated that fraudsters are targeting victims directly, at a time when financial institutions spend more on their security alerts, as they target victims through text messages, email or phone calls to request account information, card numbers, secret numbers and even passwords. Traffic, scammers usually speak in such a convincing manner that the victim will believe them, but are in fact deceptive.

It showed that most fraud cases succeed because the victim voluntarily provides his information, and not because of the fraudster's intelligence. Exposure to a successful fraud requires communication between the two sides (i.e. the deceived person and the targeted victim), and individuals can protect themselves from fraud.

Some international research showed that 47% of the victims did not interact with the fraudster, and 30% of them interacted with him, but they realized the trick at some point and stopped, and 23% of them interacted completely, which led to their exposure to financial losses.

• The victim unintentionally assists the fraudster in carrying out his crime.

Signs of fraud

Abu Dhabi Police and the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority have warned of financial fraud on individuals' banking data, through fake messages over the phone and the Internet, and identified signs of fraud, including the fraudster claiming to be a friend, requesting a transfer of funds to help him solve a problem, or impersonating the fraudster as an employee. Bank or others, requesting personal and financial data, claiming to win a fake prize, requesting to send a sum of money to transfer it, as well as attempts to persuade victims to donate for humanitarian cases, or having a mail shipment that requires payment of a sum of money to be delivered, or freezing the account and bank card, due to not updating data, or through offers of goods and services at low prices, or a request to transfer funds to obtain a work contract, and others.

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