Abu Dhabi Police caution against fake bank websites

Abu Dhabi Police warned the public of fraudulent banking websites that trick victims and steal their savings by luring them with purportedly 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 to their own banks or organisations offering debit/ credit cards.

Al Mazroui said fraudulent sites are sending links rampantly 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 misleading requests, in which customers are tricked after obtaining information about their bank accounts and re-entering the data, allowing for purchases or withdrawals.

He also warned against other forms of fraud wherein a fraudster contacts the credit card issuer and seeks a change of address of a valid card of which he has all the confidential information of the bank account. Then he files a lost-card report and requests a replacement card containing a new pin number which will be sent to the new address and thus controlling the victim’s 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 suspicious cases, especially since some of these misleading sites are kept alive for a very short duration.