Awareness

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Khalil al Fardan Exchange's Fraud Awareness.

Fraud Awareness - Be (a)ware and beware!

Phone Fraud:

When you receive unknown calls or messages who pretends as staff of government department, courier companies, telecom providers, or Police etc they want your personal details to commit fraud.

Stop:
  • Give Account number, EID Number, debit/Credit Card details, bank account details etc.
  • Share One time Password (OTP) sent by your bank and card providers.
Think:
  • Did the caller tell you from which bank they are calling, or they are simply mentioning they are calling from your bank?
  • Did you leave any message on the social media page of your bank recently and could the caller have seen that message?
  • Why would caller need your confidential OTP sent by your bank?
  • Is the call coming from a mobile number instead from landline?
Protect:
  • Bank/financial institutions never asks for personal details, OTP, CVV etc.
  • Never share one Time password (OTP) with anyone, they can commit fraud if they have it
  • If you suspect that your personal details have been compromised, report it immediately to your bank.

Advance Fee Fraud/ lottery Fraud:

Fraudsters contact victims to inform them that they have won a prize or large sum of lottery and ask for advance fee/information to process the prize.

Stop:
  • Participating in dubious lucky draws.
  • Sharing your personal information to unknown person.
  • Responding to messages saying you have won when you have not participated in any draws.
Think:
  • Why does the caller require you to pay advance fee for getting the prize?
  • If the email/call is genuine why would caller require your information as they should already have it.
  • Did the caller address you by name or simply mentioned “sir/Madam”?
Protect:
  • Never share your personal details with anyone, it can be for identity theft, to access your account, cybercrime etc.
  • Never pay upfront fee or money for any prize/credit/loan.
  • Confirm the identity of the person you're dealing with before taking any actions.
  • In case if you reckon that your personal details have been exposed, report immediately to policy authority.

Email Fraud:

It is an intentional deception for either personal gain or to damage another individual by means of email.

Stop:
  • Sharing email address to social media platforms.
  • Responding to suspicious emails.
  • Using a spam filter.
  • Noticing the spelling errors in the body of ‘official looking” email.
  • Not clicking on suspicious links.
  • Ignoring offers from unknown sources.
Think:
  • Look up for information on the company before responding such emails.
  • Check if your name is mentioned in the email? if not, would you get such emails?
  • Check if you marked as BCC in the email, and your email ID is not visible?
  • Check if sender’s email ID matching 100% with the email ID of your bank or other entities? or is there a slight mismatch?
Protect:
  • If you realise that you have already provided your details to a fraudster, contact your bank or report to local police authority immediately.
  • Never respond to any unexpected email notification explaining that you have won a prize or raffle, if you haven’t bought or participated in raffle draw then you can’t win it.
  • Never respond to any offer that seems to be ‘too good to be true’ investment offers or offers to sell popular items impossibly low prices.

Sim swap Fraud:

Is when a scammer transfers your phone number to another device without your authorization.

Fraudster compromises telecom operator processes and gets the SIM Card of your registered mobile number without your knowledge and authorization. fraudster use fake documents to get the SIM CARD and use it in their mobile handsets.

Stop:
  • Replying to calls, messages, or emails that ask for your personal information.
  • Or limit the amount of personal information you share online..
Think:
  • Inability to send or receive texts and phone calls.
  • Unusual activity on your social media accounts.
  • Service changes.
Protect:
  • Inability to send or receive texts and phone calls.
  • Ensure to lock the device with a numerical PIN.

Social Network Fraud:

Fraud that is committed on social networking sites.

Social engineering fraud is the scams used by criminals to exploit a person's trust in order to obtain money directly or obtain confidential information to enable a subsequent crime.

Stop:
  • Accepting a friend request from strangers.
  • Using same passwords for different social sites.
  • Sharing personal information on social sites.
Protect:
  • Set strong passwords.
  • Secure your social media accounts.
  • Watch out for phishing scams.
  • Keep personal information personal.
  • Only send money to people you know after verifying that the request is legitimate.

Tele Marketing Fraud:

This is a type of fraud that involves the use of telephone calls to deceive people into giving away money or personal information.

Stop:
  • Hang up and report suspicious call to local authority.
  • Paying upfront for a product or services.
Think:
  • Do you have existing relationship with telemarketer? scammers often use unsolicited calls to target potential victims.
  • Are you interested in a product or service being offered, ask the caller for more information, such as the name of the company, website etc. use this information to research the company and make sure it is legitimate before making any purchases.
Protect:
  • Never give out personal information, such as credit card number or social security number to someone who calls you.
  • Be cautious when receiving unsolicited calls, legitimate businesses will not ask for personal information over the phone.
  • Use call blocking and filtering features to prevent unwanted marketing calls.

Ponzi schemes:

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment scheme that promises high returns on investment but pays returns to earlier investors using the money from newer investors, rather than using actual profits from the investments. The scheme relies on the constant recruitment of new investors to generate the necessary funds to pay earlier investors and it collapses when the number of new investors slows down or stops.

Stop:
  • If there is lack of transparency or little information about how the returns are generated.
  • If there is pressure to act quickly and invest before the opportunity is gone.
Think:
  • If the company registered or regulated and operators are licensed to sell products or securities.
Protect:
  • Be wary of any investment opportunity that promises high returns with little risk or that requires you to recruit other investors.
  • Always research the investment and the person offering it before investing any money.

Phishing Scam:

This is a type of social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. Internet fraudsters create and distribute emails which appear to be legitimate bank/FI requests to supply your personal banking details. Please be aware that Bank/FI will NEVER send you an email asking you to share confidential information such as your account number, your internet banking username, or passwords.

Stop:
  • If the email address of the sender is not from the company or organization it claims to be from, it is likely to be scam.
Think:
  • If emails contain spelling and grammatical errors or use poor-quality images and graphics.
Protect:
  • Be wary of clicking any links or providing any personal information.
  • Check the email address of the sender to make sure it is from legitimate source.

Other Common Types of Scams & Schemes:

Money Mule Scam:

A money mule is someone who transfers or moves illegally acquired money on behalf of someone else. In this scams, victims (the money mules) are tricked by fraudsters into laundering stolen/illegally gained money through their bank account/s.

Criminals recruit money mules to help launder proceeds derived from online scams and frauds or crimes like human trafficking and drug trafficking. Money mules add layers of distance between crime victims and criminals, which makes it harder for law enforcement to accurately trace money trails.

Identity Theft:

Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, date of birth, passport number, Emirates ID details, or credit card number, without their permission, to gain access to their bank account and then carry out fraudulent transactions.

Charity Scam:

Charity scammers often use social media like Facebook, YouTube as well as well as crowdfunding sites to ask for donations. Crowd funding websites like go fund me, quickly collect small amounts of money from large number of people. You may see a link you can click to donate to a fundraiser for some on in need. The fundraising page may even have photos of real people. But the money you give to charity scammers never reaches the real people in need. And the scammers now have your money and your personal information. Be careful! Don’t click on links or attachments or share them with your friends unless you know that the charity is real.

Romance scam:

A romance scam is a type of fraud where a scammer uses fake identities to build a romantic relationship with a victim, usually with the goal of extracting money or personal information from them. The scammer typically creates a fake profile media platform, poses as someone interested in a romantic relationship and gradually gains the victims trust before making a request for money or sensitive information. It is important to be cautious when meeting people online and never send money to someone you have not met in person.

Employment scams:

Employment fraud is the attempt to defraud people seeking employment by giving them false hope of better employment, offering better working hours, more respectable tasks, future opportunities, or higher wages.

KAFE requests you to be more vigilant and adopt below safety measures to protect against these fraudulent activities:

  • Review and verify all the information before signing any forms and documents.
  • Update your information with the exchange house as and when required to avoid any miscommunication
  • Avail the services only after carefully understanding the applicable terms and conditions.
  • Counterfeit notes and forged documents will be reported to concerned authorities.
  • Count and ensure your money before leaving counter.
  • Keep track of your remittance transactions with SMS alerts.
  • Don’t send remittance to unknown person.
  • Don’t disclose transaction and personal information to any other party.
  • Purpose and Source of fund for the transaction with us should not relate to any Money laundering and Terrorist financing.
  • If you are a Victim of Fraud, you may report to Dubai Police.

Tips to Protect Your Money in Public:

  • Watch out for stalkers as you leave your vehicle.
  • Don’t leave large sums of money in the vehicle.
  • Don’t flash large amounts of cash in public.
  • Watchout for those who pretend to offer help or claim your vehicle is leaking oil or has a flat tire
  • Watch out for those who deliberately stain your clothes then offer to clean them as you leave the exchange house.
  • Avoid secluded areas when carrying large sums of cash.
  • Secure your money in a safe place and away from the public.

Tips to Avoid Scammers:

  • Store your sensitive documents in a secure location or safe.
  • Never provide passwords, PIN numbers, account numbers, etc over the phone or via text or email.
  • Sign up for additional safeguards to protect your accounts.
  • Utilize an encrypted digital wallet from secure provider. Before providing your user id and password please ensure that the URL of the login page starts with the text ‘https:// and not ‘http://. The ‘S’ stands for “secured” and indicates that the web page uses encryption.
  • Always Log on to a site by typing the proper URL in the address bar.
  • Please also look for the lock sign at the right bottom of the browser and Verisign certificate.
  • Shred all documents your personal information or financial data.
  • Give your user id and password only at the authenticated login page.
  • Always create difficult to guess PIN Numbers.
  • Limit the amount of information you share online.
  • Monitor your child’s social media accounts and ensure they are private.
  • Don’t open or respond to unsolicited emails or texts from unknown contacts.
  • Lock your devices with passcode and use biometrics.
  • Only download apps and programs from trusted sources.
  • Always perform recommended updates on your devices.
  • Be wary of links and attachments in email, sponsored content pop ups and texts.
  • Always activate two factors authentication (2FA).
  • Enable location services and location-based security permissions.
  • Never sign into an account using a link in email or text.
  • Set your social profile settings to private.

Impersonation & Kickbacks:

Khalil al Fardan employees shall not, under any circumstances, request cash from customers in lieu of providing exchange houses any facility.

Please report such instances to us.

Ph: 04-2550070

Email: mail@kafexchange.com