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29 March 2024

Public urged to report mobile, Net scams

Published
By Nadim Kawach

Abu Dhabi Police have called upon the public to immediately report any attempts by swindlers posing as lottery organizers or other unknown personalities to rob them through their mobile phones or the internet.

The call followed a surge in such attempts which involved mails or sending text messages to mobile phone users telling them they have won a large sum of money and asking them to transfer fees for the dispatch of their funds.
 
In a statement carried by local newspapers this week, police said they had received more than 100 reports about swindling and deception attempts by unknown thieves through mobile phones and internet over the past year.
 
The statement said the persons who have fallen victims to such operations have been robbed by more than Dh250,000, adding that there has been a sharp increase in these attempts in the past three years.
 
“The public should instantly report any attempt to rob their money through their mobile phones or by e mail whether or not they fall victim to such operations…this will help the police arrest these criminals and thieves and rid the society from their criminal practices,” the statement said.
 
Many persons have reported they have received text messages on their mobile phones or e mails telling them they have a won a large sum of money in a lottery that has randomly picked their phone number or e mail address.
 
The dispatches come from unknown sources in the UAE and fake sourced destinations in Britain and other countries.
 
One e mail message which was received by a Syrian expatriate this week told him his address has randomly picked for the prize of 500,000 British pounds to be given by the United Nations and the European Development Programme.
 
The message said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would sign the prize but asked the recipient to send $5,000 as fees for the release of the funds.
 
“Of course I did not send this sum…I have experience in these practices although they are done by professional gangs,” said Isam Hourani, a Syrian mobile phone dealer based in Abu Dhabi.
 
“I suspected the message because I never heard of that European Fund and the name of the UN Secretary General was misspell….the problem is that they give you a phone number, which sounds genuine when you call it.”
 
Another Arab expatriate said he had fallen victim to an e mail scam after he agreed to send gifts requested by the swindlers in Nigeria.
 
“They sounded real and genuine people…I phoned them many times and they really sounded genuine…what more genuine was their story,” said the 30-year-old man, who did not want his name to be revealed.
 
“I don’t know how these people get you addresses but I believed them when they said they want to smuggle an inheritance of $9 million out of their country to avoid tax and want to send the funds to my bank account for a 20 per cent commission for myself…I sent them gifts for the supposed bank staff there then they demanded $10,000 for bank fees…I then realized it was a deception operation so I did not send the money…but I paid Dh1,000 for the gifts.”
 
Quoted by the semi-official Arabic language daily Al Ittihad this week, an Abu Dhabi police officer urged the public to watch out against such messages.
 
“I call upon the people to take extra care when dealing with such messages…I think most people now realize how these gangs are developing techniques to steal them…many of these messages claim they know that there is a large segment of the UAE society which seeks quick but legitimate profits,” said Colonel Rashid Burshaid, Head of the Organized Crime.
 
“I think the society should be the front defence line in fighting this dangerous phenomenon by reporting any such attempts…we just want any person who receives such message to come to the Organized Crime section and file a report, which takes only 10 minutes…people can also call us on 999 or the Organized Crime section on 02-5088888…this will be of great help to us.”