Financial Crime World

Common Types of Fraud Observed by the UAEFIU

The United Arab Emirates Financial Intelligence Unit (UAEFIU) has identified several common types of fraud that are being perpetrated in the region. These fraud types often involve complex schemes and utilize various methods to deceive victims.

Impersonation Fraud and Business Email Compromise (BEC)

  • Definition: Impersonation fraud involves cyber-attacks where perpetrators impersonate a company’s official to conduct unauthorized transactions.
  • Methods:
    • Exploiting publicly available information
    • Hacking an individual’s or organization’s email to obtain sufficient information for commission of BEC fraud

Scam Fraud

Subtypes:

Fake Products Scams

  • Using social media platforms and bogus sites to dupe prospective buyers into purchasing high-value goods and items like luxury brands and gold.

Fake Visa/Ticketing Frauds

  • Perpetrators act as a legal travel agent offering a visa or ticketing service, asking for payment online before proceeding to the issuance of the visa or ticket. After the transfer is made, they stop communicating with their victim.

Investment Scams

  • Offering an investment (often fictitious) with the promise of a high return with little or no risk. Prospective investments are usually in company shares, real estate, and stocks.

Online Scam through Virtual Currencies

  • Entities promote crypto-investments, misleading victims to invest in digital currency products that have no monetary value. They lure victims with fake promises of obtaining high investment returns after virtual assets/currencies are transferred to their wallet address.

Phishing/Vishing

  • Fraudsters obtain the victim’s sensitive information or credentials either online (phishing) or via phone (vishing).

Key Observations from the UAEFIU

  • The most common fraud types observed by the UAEFIU include impersonation fraud, business email compromise (BEC), scam fraud, online scams through virtual currencies, and phishing/vishing.
  • These fraud types often involve complex schemes, including the use of shell entities, multiple bank accounts, and misleading names similar to those of trusted establishments in the UAE.
  • The UAEFIU has received different intelligence reports from counterpart FIUs regarding similar concerns, such as virtual currency Ponzi schemes.