Scam alert: Indian Consulate in Dubai tells expats who to contact for repatriation help

Dubai: In a new advisory for the Indian expat community, the Indian Consulate in Dubai has sounded the alarm on a fraudulent scam targeting grieving families of deceased Indian expats.

Unauthorised agents have been charging excessive fees, not sanctioned by the Consulate, to arrange the repatriation of mortal remains, the mission pointed out.

Last year, the mission had issued a similar warning and put in place new rules to fly home the mortal remains of deceased Indian expats in Dubai and Northern Emirates.

To prevent such fraudulent activities, the mission has now released, on its website, the list of associations empanelled under the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) for supporting the mortal remains of deceased Indians.

“The Consulate extends assistance through its panel of community associations under ICWF for repatriation of mortal remains strictly on means-tested basis in accordance with the Government of India guidelines where the deceased does not have any employer/sponsor or insurance policy does not cover the cost of repatriation of mortal remain. In such cases, family does not require to incur any expenditure,” the Consulate stated.

The advisory follows a social media campaign by some community members alleging that certain agents were illegally charging grieving families exorbitant fees to transport the mortal remains of their loved ones.

The mission pointed out that as per UAE law (Article 15 (3), Federal Decree‑Law No. 33 of 2021), employers must cover the cost of preparing and transporting a deceased worker’s body home if requested by the family.

The ICWF, a global fund under the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to support overseas Indians in distress, has amassed a surplus of approximately Dh300 million (Rs 704.56 crore) as of March, as reported by Gulf News last week.

Funded by a Dh8-service charge on Indian passport, consular and attestation services, it has supported more than 18,000 Indian expats in the UAE between 2020 and 2024. According to the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the figures included handling at least 559 cases of repatriating mortal remains.

To safeguard families from exploitation, the Consulate is now directing them to rely solely on official guidance and authorised associations.

The guidelines along with the costs involved in repatriating mortal remains under the ICWF have been made available on the Consulate’s website.

“The financial aid includes cost of death certificate, embalming, coffin, local ambulance and airfare to transport mortal remain to the airport nearest to the place of destination in India,” the mission stated.

Community associations undertake the completion of formalities related to the procedure across Emirates without any service fee in case of financial assistance being provided under ICWF. However, these community associations may charge a nominal amount for their services other than ICWF-assisted repatriation of mortal remain, according to the consulate.

The organisations emapnelled by the Consulate are the following.

Families in need can access support at any time via the Consulate’s 24x7 helpline:

Mobile/WhatsApp: +971‑50‑7347676

Toll‑Free: 800 46342 (under the Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayata Kendra)

or visit https://www.cgidubai.gov.in/content/Assistance-Procedure.docx_1.pdf, the mission added.