A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images
A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images
A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images
A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images

UAE one of top five most targeted countries by online fraudsters


Patrick Ryan
  • English
  • Arabic

The UAE was the fifth most-targeted country in the world for malicious spam mail-outs, according to to a new report.

Only Germany, Russia, the UK and Italy ranked higher on the list, which was revealed in Kaspersky Lab's report Spam and Phishing in Q1 2018.

The report also showed there were more than 3.7 million attempts to obtain people’s personal data through fake social media pages in the first four months of this year.

The majority of the fake pages were Facebook accounts (60 per cent) followed by the Russian social media page Vkontakte (20.86 per cent).

Social network phishing is a form of cybercrime that involves the theft of personal data from a victim’s social network account.

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Read more:

Close to Dh4 billion lost last year to UAE cybercrime

Almost 800 cybercrime cases handled by Abu Dhabi police last year

Young Emiratis urged to consider cyber security career to tackle 'greatest threat we face'

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The fraudster creates a copy of a social networking website, such as a fake Facebook page, and tries to lure unsuspecting victims to it, forcing them to give up their personal data — such as their name, password, credit card number, PIN code, and more — in the process.

“The continuous increase in phishing attacks — targeting both social networks and financial organisations — shows us that users need to pay more serious attention to their online activities,” said Nadezhda Demidova, lead web content analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

“Despite the recent global scandals, people continue to click on unsafe links and allow unknown apps access to their personal data. Due to this lack of user vigilance, the data on a huge number of accounts gets lost or extorted from users. This can then lead to destructive attacks and a constant flow of money for the cybercriminals.”

Kaspersky offered a number of tips to help ensure that users are protected against phishing scams:

  • Always check the link address and the sender's email before clicking anything
  • Before clicking any link, check if the link address shown, is the same as the actual hyperlink
  • Only use a secure connection, especially when you visit sensitive websites. As a minimum precaution, do not use unknown or public Wi-Fi without a password protection. For maximum protection, use VPN solutions that encrypt your traffic
  • Never share your sensitive data, such as logins and passwords, bank card data etc., with a third party. Official companies will never ask for data like this via email
  • Use a reliable security solution with behaviour-based anti-phishing technologies, such as Kaspersky Total Security, to detect and block spam and phishing attacks
In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

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The specs

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Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

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Price: From Dh117,059

Honeymoonish
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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

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Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Griselda
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Specs

Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request

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