Digital scammers prey on their victims with the “lowest prices”

The Cyber ​​Security Council warned of digital fraudsters trying to target their victims through the trap of “shopping at the lowest prices,” explaining that hasty shopping during the sales season may lead to financial losses when entering payment data on unreliable platforms. The Council revealed that a girl suffered a loss of 106 thousand dirhams, representing every… Her bank balance was withdrawn in several minutes, as a result of her shopping from an unreliable website, while the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department confirmed that the desire to obtain products at the lowest prices is one of the most prominent reasons why people fall into this type of fraud.

In detail, the Cybersecurity Council published a warning video, as part of its awareness campaign on its social media accounts, “Be Vigilant, Be Informed,” in which it said: “(Your balance has been completely withdrawn). This message reached Reem’s bank account, which was planning to benefit from… Black Friday offers with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, Reem’s enthusiasm to take advantage of the huge discounts led her to enter payment information without verifying the authenticity of the shopping platforms. It later became clear that she had fallen victim to a fraudulent site, and within minutes she discovered that a large amount had been withdrawn from “Her account.”

The Council added: “Protect yourself by checking the reliability of online stores before shopping, avoiding suspicious links by not clicking on them, beware of offers that seem excessively tempting and unreasonable, make sure there is a lock icon in the address bar of shopping websites, and allocate a card.” Banking for use in online shopping,” stressing the need to shop smartly, maintain the security of confidential information, and not let enthusiasm overwhelm our digital safety.

In the same context, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department renewed its warnings against purchasing goods through unreliable or fake websites advertised on social media, noting that electronic fraud has become one of the most common types of electronic crimes, the negative impact and damage of which has increased in the past few years. Due to the increase in users of social media, with the multiplicity of methods and areas of fraudulent crimes, due to the increasing number of people on the Internet, and its interference in all aspects of economic, commercial and social life.

The department warned, through an awareness video titled “Fake Purchases,” that forms of electronic fraud in shopping operations include: fraudsters using social media to advertise their fake websites, offering goods at very low prices, and specifying payment via bank transfer or money card only. After making a number of sales, these stores disappear completely.

She pointed out that the three most prominent reasons why people fall into this type of fraud are: individuals’ lack of awareness about how to verify unreliable websites, incorrect use of websites and accessing unsafe sites, in addition to the desire to obtain products at the lowest prices, pointing out that The harms that people may experience by dealing with untrusted websites are theft of buyer data, receiving a counterfeit product, or not receiving a product at all, and losing money due to the difficulty of pursuing scammers.

7 tricks

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department warned of seven tricks that scammers use on social media platforms to trap their victims, steal their money, and blackmail them, including: fake shopping sites, impersonating an official employee, fake office offers for domestic workers, fake shipping company letters, fake marriage offers, and real estate fraud. By offering properties of low value compared to the market to entice the victim to pay quickly, in addition to misleading people into winning financial prizes.