Urge public to be cautious of links handing out special offers
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Police warned the public of fraudulent banking websites that trick victims and steal their savings in fraudulent operations by luring people with fake competitive offers via email and mobile phones.
Colonel Omran Ahmad Al Mazroui, Acting Director of the Criminal Investigations Directorate of the Criminal Security Sector, called on the public to avoid disclosing their bank statements even to bodies with which they have bank accounts or that offer debit/credit cards.
Al Mazroui said that there are widespread links sent to bank customers asking them to seize the chance to get special offers but only after registering their bank statements at the counterfeit banking sites. Usually, the registration is easy and done very fast.
He added that fake offers promoted by those links are created by gangs outside the country. He also warned against new deceptive tactics and the misleading solicitation of victims, in which they are fraudulently tricked after obtaining information about their bank accounts and re-entering the data, allowing for purchases or withdrawals.
He also warned against widespread forms of fraud where the fraudster contacts the credit card issuer to report the change of address of a valid card where he has all the confidential information of the bank account and then reports the loss and request a replacement card containing a new secret number which will be sent to the new address and thus controlling a certain bank account.
He stressed the need for bank agents to comply with the requirements of concerned authorities and police warnings to combat electronic crimes and report any case they suspect to track and counter such crimes, especially since some of these misleading sites are created for very short periods.