Dubai Police has cracked down on fraud committed using cell phones and targeting bank customers.
The General Department of Criminal Investigation has revealed it has arrested 494 people who were involved in 406 phone fraud cases over the past year.
The most common form of these fraudsters was to call, email or SMS customers and say they needed to update their banking information. The culprits even used social media handles to contact the victims and access their bank account details.
Dubai Police arrest phone scammers
Dubai Police seized significant amounts of money, mobile phones, laptops, and SIM cards used to execute these scams.
A Dubai Police statement said that fraud is a criminal offence, punishable under the UAE Federal Penal Code of 1987 and the Federal Decree-Law No34 of 2021 that deals with cybercrimes, and ensures strict penalties for the offenders.
Brigadier Harib Al Shamsi, Acting Director of the General Department for Criminal Investigation at Dubai Police, urged residents to guard against revealing banking details or credit card information to anyone claiming to be from a financial institution.
Among the most common guise used by the scammers was claiming that the victims’ accounts or cards were blocked or frozen.
Emphasising that such fraudulent communications must be ignored, Al Shamsi said the banks never solicit information updates via telephone.
“Customers are advised to update their details directly through the banks’ branches, official customer service representatives, or authenticated banking applications,” said Al Shamsi, urging victims to promptly report incidents to the authorities through Dubai Police’s various platforms, including the Police Eye feature on the Dubai Police App, the eCrime platform, the Smart Police Station (SPS), or by calling the 901 contact centre.
Colonel Dr Khalid Aref Al Sheikh, Director of the Anti-Economic Crimes Department, highlighted the department’s efficiency in addressing numerous fraud alerts last year.
“The dedicated efforts of our officers and specialists have led to the apprehension of perpetrators, demonstrating Dubai Police’s commitment to legal action against such crimes,” said Al Sheikh.
He also assured citizens that police remain vigilant and prepared to respond to any fraud reports, and spoke of the substantial investment in developing a skilled national workforce capable of providing round-the-clock support to the community.
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