Abu Dhabi, September 04: Abu Dhabi Police warned residents against e-fraud by international hackers to extract personal data from mobile phones.
The police campaign drew to a close this week after nearly 100,000 text messages, in Arabic and English, were distributed to raise awareness among the public. Police had noticed many cases in which people fell prey to con schemes using phones, email or other technology.
Major General Nasser Lakribani Al Nuaimi, Secretary General of the Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister’s office said the preliminary positive results indicated the campaign had been successful in raising awareness among the people by advising them not to fall victims to fraudsters, who use telephone calls and e-mails.
The campaign launched by the Secretariat General of the Interior Minister’s office on August 1, and continued for the whole month, saw big a response from both Emiratis and the expatriates, and saw a remarkable decline in the rate of reports police stations received regarding fraud and false phone calls.
Comparative figures were not provided but Al Nuaimi said the Secretariat General would conduct an analytical study of the campaign by counting the total number of reports on cyber-crimes and fraudulent phone calls, and compare them with the total reports it received before and after the campaign kicked off. Major General Ahmed Nasser Al Raisi, Director-General of Central Operations, Abu Dhabi Police, said the e-swindlers were using the bluetooth technology and bespoke softwares in a very tricky way to steal information from mobile phones.
Major Faisal Mohammed Ali Al Shameri, information security specialist, Abu Dhabi Police, revealed three fraud tactics widely spread in some European countries, including ‘#90’ where the phone user is asked to type in a number and then the criminal accesses their sim card; XLAN a word sent in a message that accompanies a virus; and where phone users are offered a free product by ringing a toll free number but asks the user to pay to sign up to a contract.
“Police and telecom operators in these countries have alerted the mobile phone users against such scams,” he said. He explained that the Central Operations had monitored some rumours about such fraud cases locally and approached the local telecom providers to inquire about the accuracy of such threats.
The Police found that most these scams were concentrated in Europe and very limited in the UAE. He advised users who lose their phones to alert the police and furnish all necessary data.
He appealed to users not to leave their phones inside cars or open places.
New buyers of phones should also make sure of the security features of the set they want to acquire.
“The best way to protect yourself from such e-fraud is to refrain from delivering any data, mainly financial intelligence, via phone before you thoroughly check about the validity of such swindling companies,’’ he said.
Al Nuami said the police would always investigate cases of fraud on behalf of the victim but said the public could not blame ignorance on becoming a target for the crime. “Police departments and media have not left any chance for anyone to give excuse that he/she is unaware of such fraud calls and messages, especially after the warnings the secretariat had clearly announced and broadcast on media,” Al Nuami said.
Major General Nuaimi reminded users of mobile telephones and internet not to fall for e-tricks.
–Agencies