Hossam Abdelnaby (Abu Dhabi)
Banks operating in the country have warned their customers of 8 new types of fraud operations that are currently occurring, calling on their customers to cooperate to stop the fraud operations that appear every week and target customers in various parts of the country.
The banks said in warning letters to their customers: The latest method of fraud is people trying to steal information through “WhatsApp” messages in which they pretend to be representatives of official authorities, noting the importance of the customer blocking numbers and reporting “WhatsApp” messages received from numbers. Known or unknown, through which one-time passwords (“OTP”) are required to be shared over the phone, or for the customer to provide any sensitive information.
The banks added that the second type of fraud includes impersonating a police officer, a bank employee, a representative of the Central Bank, or a government employee, where they call the customer from private or unknown numbers to ask him to provide personal information. She stated that there is a type of fraud via an SMS text message related to the delivery of a shipment and includes malicious links, warning against clicking on any suspicious links sent to the customer from private or unknown numbers, and which appear to be sent from a brand.
Fake calls
According to the messages received by bank customers, the fourth type of modern fraud is fake calls to deceive people asking them to act quickly for an emergency, noting that the bank does not pressure customers to share their personal information or any details of their bank accounts over the phone. Therefore, the customer should never add new beneficiaries to the list of beneficiaries in his mobile banking application, based on a request from an unknown contact.
Banks have identified the fifth type of fraudulent method in which the caller requests reconfirmation of personal data to verify the validity of an expired or suspended Emirates ID card, requiring customers to always verify the identity of the person calling before sharing any sensitive or personal information, especially since the bank will never ask to provide such This information is available over the phone.
Banks reported that one of the modern types of fraud is that the customer receives fake calls claiming that his card has been blocked and asking him to log in to the bank’s electronic application and share the authentication code from the Smart Pass feature, revealing that the fraudsters are trying to obtain the customer’s information and may send him a one-time password ( OTPs), notifications from the UAEPASS government app, or messages from other real government departments in order to make their hoax believe.
Banks stressed the importance of customers carefully reading the message containing the one-time password (OTP), with extreme caution, and carefully checking the value and currency in which the transaction was executed, and the name of the merchant in the messages the customer receives from the bank containing the valid password. One-time (OTP).
She stated the need to beware of the eighth type of modern fraud by not adding unknown beneficiaries to the customer’s account in online banking services, or via the mobile application, based on a request from an unknown caller.
Difficulty communicating
Regarding the difficulty of communicating with the bank’s call center in the event of discovering a fraud attempt due to the difficulty of communicating with the automated responder (chat bot) and the call taking between 5 to 20 minutes on average, banks advised customers to immediately contact the call center, and when they are asked to state the reason for the call. He mentions the word “emergency.” For cards.
She explained that the ban can also be applied to the customer’s debit/credit card immediately and easily through the mobile banking application, concluding by stressing that customers’ cooperation with banks and being alert to fraud attempts will enable them to stop fraudsters and overcome their deceptive attempts.
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