Dubai Police have arrested suspects over a scam offering fake discounts of up to 70 per cent on traffic fines.
The group lured victims by offering the discounts in fraudulent advertisements on social media platforms, police allege. The scammers then used stolen credit and debit card data to pay off the fines in full, and charged the victims the “discounted” rate in cash.
“They were meeting the victims personally, collecting the money in cash and paying the full amount of traffic fines using the stolen cards,” said Dubai Police in a statement.
“They illegally obtained the discounted amounts after the victim received confirmation of completing the payment.”
The force did not specify the number of suspects, their nationalities or the number of victims.
“It is a double crime combining stealing bank details and financial fraud,” the police spokesperson said.
Police said if someone is aware stolen credit cards are being used to pay their fines, they are also committing a crime.
Stay vigilant
Officials at the anti-fraud section of Dubai's CID warned the public to stay alert and not be deceived by similar fake promotions.
“There are official channels to pay the traffic fines. Unverified offers of discounts [are] a crime punishable by the law in the UAE,” said the spokesperson.
Last month, Emirates airline said it was suspending its social media advertising to protect customers from the growing nuisance of online scams.
The Dubai-based carrier said it acted in response to “fraudulent advertisements currently circulating across social media platforms” that claim to be from Emirates.
The company warned that cybercriminals were impersonating its official website by using branded visuals, unauthorised trademarks and links closely resembling those belonging to Emirates.
Such phishing scams are created to lure customers into paying out for tickets, sharing personal information or following malicious links. Emirates said it is working with social media platforms to have the fraudulent advertising removed.
