Ras Al Khaimah: Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Police have launched a campaign to counter online fraud. The campaign has been organised by the Media and Public Relations wing of RAK Police, in cooperation with the Department of Community Police, the Department of Comprehensive Police Stations and the Criminal Investigations Department.
The launch ceremony was attended by Brigadier General Abdullah Munkhis, Director General of Police Operations, and Captain Saeed Al Masafri, Director of the Awareness Branch and Media Campaigns, in addition to a number of police officers.
The campaign is part of the plan to implement the strategy of the Ministry of Interior, which aims to spread security awareness on a wider scale.
Brigadier Munkhis explained that the campaign aims to enhance societal awareness about the various forms of online fraud, extortion and false job offers and personal and financial data theft.
Brigadier Munkhis stressed the importance of maintaining confidentiality of personal information, confidentiality of credit and debit card numbers by periodically changing PIN and passwords — especially after returning from travel — avoiding to answer calls from strangers and not responding to calls requesting for disclosure of bank information with the promise of a prize or a lucky draw win by callers who claim to be from telecommunication companies.
He also advised people not to trust emails from unauthenticated sources and to preferably use prepaid electronic cards for online transactions, instead of using credit or debit cards.
Brigadier Munkhis said if any fraudulent transaction is noticed on a credit card, debit card or bank account then the card or account holder must immediately contact the bank and then report it to the police.
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Captain Saeed Al Masafri said that fraudster may even use patterns that match the sites of trusted brands. So, it is necessary to ensure the credibility of the sites by verifying the specifications and standards of the brand concerned and its registered email address.
Captain Al Masafri warned the public against dealing with dating sites, fake advertisements and the use of social networking applications. He pointed out the need to create strong passwords for all electronic accounts — passwords that should ideally contain a combination of letters, numbers and symbols that are difficult to hack — and to avoid using the same password to operate multiple accounts.
