Beware: $2 million Dubai lottery scam alert issued

Published Monday, July 23, 2012

By Staff

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has issued a 'Dubai National Lottery Foundation 2012' scam alert where scammers demand advance fee using identities of DFSA Chairman Saed Eigner, UAE Central Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and UAE Ministry of Finance.

DFSA said that the scame involves unauthorised and misleading use of the identities of the DFSA and its Chairman, Mr Saeb Eigner.

The letter also falsely purports to represent the Central Bank of the UAE, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and theUAE Ministry of Finance.

The regulatory authority said that scammers sent unsolicited letters, on DFSA letter headed paper, to persons by email informing them that they will receive a large sum of money, in this case $2,161,500, as beneficiary of the 'Dubai National Lottery Foundation 2012 online prize awards'; and the funds cannot be released until the payment of a remittance fee, in this case $21,600.

The false DFSA letter informs the addressee that the amount of $2,161,500 will be remitted to the addressee once the payment of $21,600 has been transferred.

The letter is false and is fraudulently motivated.

The scammers also send false “Approval” letters, in an apparent attempt to add authenticity to the scam.

"If you receive letters of this type, you ignore them or report them to the police or relevant financial services regulator. You should not respond to the letters; or send money to any person. If you are in doubt you should call your relevant financial services regulator for advice," the DFSA statement said.

DFSA said it does not write letters to members of the public requesting the transfer of funds; and it also does not communicate via private e-mail addresses (e.g. Gmail or Hotmail).

DFSA has recently issued warnings and provided guidance about common types of scams.