Dubai: A scam has resurfaced on UAE social networking sites, conning residents into providing personal information and bank account details to scammers.
Residents told Gulf News that they received the fraudulent message on their WhatsApp accounts earlier this week, and were worried about the authenticity of the notice.
In the message, it read: “Sorry, Dear Customers Your Bank Account (ATM, Debit, Credit Cards) Will be Freeze Due To Some Security Reasons, (And Verify Your All Correct Details) Otherwise Your Account Will be Suspended Permanent. Please Contact within 24 Hours.”
In response to the scam, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has cautioned residents against responding to such types of fraudulent e-mails and notices.
On its website, the CBUAE explained that it is not a retail bank and does not carry out transactions or hold funds for members of the public.
“If you have been informed via email, social media, telephone or post that you have a claim on or have funds held at the CBUAE or you have received any documents or details of investment opportunities that appear to come from the CBUAE, it is likely to be fraudulent.
“The CBUAE is aware that its name and that the names of some of its employees are sometimes used to progress different forms of fraud, perpetrated against third parties. Some of these scams are attempts at identity theft, including fraudulent emails, faxes, including copies of our website.”
The fraudulent materials use the CBUAE’s name, logo and address, as well as names of its staff and management, all without CBUAE’s permission.
How to spot the scam
- The CBUAE never sends emails from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail or other public email accounts such as live.com.
- We do not contact individuals through, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media.
- All our emails use our email address: @ cbuae.gov.ae and we do not use any other variations (for e.g. @cb-uae.ae,cbuae-ae.com).
- If you believe that you have been the victim of any fraud, please consider reporting it to your local law enforcement authority.
- Please notify us if the fraud involves a misuse of the CBUAE’s name or logo, or the name of any CBUAE employee, or a fake email address or emails purporting to be from the CBUAE.
- If you want to notify us of incidents or provide tips or have any questions about these matters you may choose to submit this confidential message by an email to information.security@cbuae.gov.ae or written letter to Head – CBUAE information Security, PO Box 854, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Source: UAE Central Bank
