Residents of UAE warned of possible scammers

A financial regulatory authority has issued a warning against dealing with scammers who are targeting consumers in the UAE.

The fraudsters are reportedly impersonating as representatives of a commercial bank and various government agencies, and contacting potential victims in the UAE, to trick them into making a payout worth nearly Dh200,000.

As part of the scheme, unsuspecting consumers are being made to believe that they are beneficiaries of an astounding amount of remittance, worth $15.5 million, and in order to access the funds, they have to pay a lump sum of $54,250.

The scammers are using fake documents and posing as representatives of the Dubai International Financial Services Authority (DFSA), a UAE commercial bank, a government ministry and a legitimate online government system.

“They falsely state that the DFSA requires the beneficiary to pay a due charge of $54,250 as charged by the Federal Government in order for payment of the remittance to be approved,” the DFSA said in a statement. “The scammers also fraudulently use an incorrect spelling of the name, and purported signature, of the DFSA’s chairman to promote the scam, and falsely claim that the letter is copied to a UAE commercial bank and different government entities in the UAE.”

The regulatory body that oversees companies in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) advised UAE residents to not respond to any communication related to the scam.