Dubai Police warn against use of ‘magic pens’, urge public not to sign on cheques written by others

Dubai: Dubai Police has warned the public against signing cheques in which the amount and other details are filled in by someone else, as they could be using a ‘magic pen’ with disappearing ink.

Pointing to 20 cases of people falling victim to a the ‘magic pen’ scam, Dubai Police said the ‘magic pens’, which are illegal, have a kind of ink that disappears 20 minutes to two hours of use.

The ‘magic pen’ is used in different kinds of transactions like purchase of cars, commodities or for settling debts.

Lt Colonel Dr Ali Khalifa Al Falasi, director of the Documents Scan Section at the General Department of Forensic Science and Criminology in Dubai Police, who dealt with several cases of magic pen fraud in 2020, said: “The cheque cases were worth millions of dirhams. Our experts with advanced technology managed to detect the fraud by verifying the signature and other details on the cheques. People should use their own pens while signing and writing cheques or documents and never put their signature on cheques written by others.”

However, Lt Col Al Falasi said that they scan the documents and cheques with latest technologies using a certain type of radiation and the filters are capable of assessing what was originally written with the disappearing ink and the changes that are subsequently made out.

“We make a report with evidence about what was written on the cheque to present it to Prosecution and the courts so the victims can claim their rights.”

He stressed the importance of raising public awareness, especially among bank customers and business owners.