The Abu Dhabi Police warned against scam bank reports received by email, claiming suspicious money transfers to users’ bank accounts, and the need to refer to the nearest police station.
According to the police, such scams are designed to steal victims’ savings, should they respond to those international gangs operating from abroad. Some of these reports contain malware or phishing scams to trick people in order to get information like their bank account numbers, and passwords, which they will then use to steal their money.
Colonel Dr. Rashid Borshid, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), warned against the increasing number of cyber crimes, because cyber criminals can commit crime from anywhere in the world, especially online fraud and internet scams.
Elaborating on the details of the instance, Colonel Dr. Borshid said: "The Criminal Investigation Department had recently received complaints from people who were led to believe that they are wanted for questioning in connection with suspicious money transfers to their bank accounts. They claimed that they received a bank report including the name and address of a local bank in the letterhead, asking them to refer to the nearest police station." Colonel Dr. Borshid said that preliminary investigations have shown that the e-mails sent to victims are phony and from an unknown source; they are not sent by a local entity but from an overseas address, and include words and phrases in English such as "investigation" and "police".
Furthermore, Colonel Dr. Borshid warned the public against falling prey to such frauds and responding to any kind of threats that are aimed at making financial profit. "Such email scams are designed to undermine the security and safety of Internet users, and are a blatant attempt at extortion and offensive annoying actions," he continued.
Adding further, Head of the ADP Criminal Investigation Department (CID) called upon members of the public to be cautious and avoid responding to such misleading e-mails; so as to avoid falling prey to international gangs, which seek to steal victims’ savings and destroy their social life.
He also emphasized that awareness is the first line of defense against these negative scourges and phenomena and stressed the need to check the origin of the received messages, and to quickly notify the relevant police authorities to allow them to track culprits promptly. He noted that enhancing awareness against such frauds contributes to better prevention and to maintaining the national gains and human resources against their risks. In conclusion, he highlighted the need to be wary of scam emails and to avoid downloading files or opening attachments in emails from unknown senders to avoid falling prey to cyber fraud and extortion.
The Security Media Department at the General Secretariat of the Office of His Highness Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, has organized a community-based campaign to combat phone scams and online fraud. The campaign was supported by a number of government institutions and received great response from the public. It was also aimed at acquainting community members with the risks and negative aspects of modern technology.