Cases in 2016

Fraudsters use stolen or lost Emirates IDs to subscribe to postpaid phone numbers, leaving residents with bills worth thousands of dirhams. After losing their IDs, the victims have received huge bills for multiple phone numbers in their name, as well as reminder calls from their phone company to settle the dues.

One customer, M.K., says his phone company is reinvestigating why he is being billed around Dh27,500 for five postpaid numbers and five mobile phones, which he had never bought.

Indian M.K.’s wallet was stolen on a Dubai public bus last November. He promptly reported the theft to police and a new Emirates ID was issued to him based on the report. However, since last December, he had been receiving bills from a telecom company. M.K. wondered how he could be billed as he had never signed the subscription application and the ID which was probably used was a stolen ID.

Another victim of identity theft, Umma Shiri Mahendran, a Sri Lankan, faced a bill of Dh4,200. A copy of his Emirates ID was used to subscribe to services of a phone company. “My complaint is that the contract was signed by someone else — it is clearly not my signature. A copy of my ID was stolen and used. Someone created an account in my name without seeing me or my original ID,” Mahendran said.

Indian expat Jasmin Sibi received calls from phone companies from November 2014 to settle dues for numbers she had never subscribed to. She lost her Emirates ID in April 2014. “The bills were approximately between Dh3,500 and Dh4,000 each time,” Sibi said.

The phone company solved her case.

A Nepalese sales professional fell victim to a fraud that left him facing credit card dues of around Dh28,800 after someone apparently used his credit card details to withdraw cash multiple times from an ATM. The victim said in June he had the card on with him while on night duty in Dubai — the ATM transaction happened in Sharjah. After a series of follow ups, spanning months, to have his case resolved the victim was eventually let off by his bank, which was initially adamant there was no fraud.

An Indian property salesman said he was left facing a bill of at least Dh14,000 after unidentified fraudsters used his lost Emirates ID to subscribe to six postpaid mobile numbers. He had lost his Emirates ID card and was promptly issued a replacement. Unknown to him, someone used the lost card to subscribe to the numbers. He said in May that the signatures used to apply for the numbers were not his; the ID used was old and carried his outdated photo; and the salary certificate was not his.

November 2015

An Indian expat is a victim of identity theft. He is facing a telephone bill of Dh14,000 after fraudsters used his lost Emirates ID to subscribe to six postpaid mobile numbers.

December 2015

An Indian expatriate’s wallet is stolen on a Dubai public bus in November. He starts to receive telephone bills from a telecom company. He is billed around Dh27,500 for five post-paid numbers, which he says he never bought even though he has reported the theft to police and a new Emirates ID was issued to him.

September 13, 2015

A Filipino expat Kristie Gatan is victim of identity theft. A quick cash load of Dh10,130 is taken from a credit card in her name. She never knew the card existed, much less have the card with her.

September 2015

A Nepalese sales professional is a victim of a fraud that has left him facing credit card dues of around Dh28,800. His credit card is used five times to withdraw a total of Dh21,000 from an ATM of a bank in Sharjah. The amount has since increased to Dh28,800 because of interest and other charges.

June 30, 2015

The five suspects three Egyptians, a Filipino and an Iranian — forged hundreds of applications to sell smartphone packages and data bundles worth around Dh842,000.

April 12, 2015

An Indian teacher loses over Dh9,000 in bank fraud. The bank statement shows Dh9,598.75 withdrawn from his account over 16 transactions of Dh569.66 each besides two single transactions of Dh341.78 and Dh142.41. The transactions were carried out in Thailand, he was in the UAE at that time.

February 19, 2015

A Filipino expat has lost Dh7,731.49 in bank fraud. Five fraudulent ATM transactions within two minutes are made in Mexico - two transactions worth Dh2,985.09, two more transactions worth Dh752.49 and a further debit of Dh256.33 - all between 11:37 and 11:39am.

January 06, 2015

An Indian teacher loses Dh10,000 in bank fraud. Nine dubious transactions are made in the US, but victim never been US.

Compiled by Gulf News Archives

Etisalat comment

New subscribers have to present valid documentation like Emirates ID or passport at the retail outlet. Biometric fingerprint verification is another level of security introduced at Etisalat retail outlets while registering new customers. In a scenario when a customer’s Emirates ID or passport is stolen, the customer is required to lodge a police complaint immediately and notify Etisalat’s customer care. This will help avoid misuse of the customer’s original IDs and any resultant fraud activities using the customer’s documents.