“Emirates Consumer Protection” warns against online fraud with “prices that do not reflect reality”

The Emirates Consumer Protection Association warned citizens and residents in the country against dealing with websites and social media accounts that offer attractive offers at prices that do not reflect reality, especially in sectors such as hospitality, hotels, and cars, under names, such as “unbeatable opportunity”, “special offer”, or limited, in light of the increasing financial fraud through the Internet globally.

The Chairman of the Association, Muhammad Khalifa bin Azir Al -Muhairi, told «Emirates Today»: “The association has monitored, during the recent period, a disturbing increase in the number of victims who fell into Shabak (digital illusion), and they were subjected to heavy financial losses, after they were subjected to electronic fraud, and they were lured through fake accounts and fraudulent sites, some of which impersonate institutions, or use pictures and brands stolen from the regions Official.

Al -Muhairi added: “The most prominent patterns of fraud and digital deception that (the association) monitored from electronic fraud, relates to residency offers in chalets or hotels at very attractive prices, are promoted through unknown accounts, or imitation sites that seem at first glance that they are official, and consumers are deceived to send financial sums to personal accounts that have nothing to do with the original facilities.”

He continued: «As for the second type of electronic fraud, it includes offering offers to sell cars at prices that are largely lower than their market value that are promoted under the name (special offer) or (an unfair opportunity), and consumers are required to pay financial sums as an introduction to reserve the car, so that consumers will discover later that they dealt with fake people, especially since most of the accounts disappear completely after the financial transfer.

Al -Muhairi stressed that «the fraudsters do not provide official documents or clear contracts for consumers, but rather depends primarily on psychological pressure and the urgency of consumers, with fake pretexts such as saying that the offer is limited or will run quickly, given the presence of a high demand for it, which the consumer loses the ability to verify the validity of these offers.

Al -Muhairi called on consumers to deal with the official authorities and reliable sites when buying, reservations, or payment, and not to turn money into personal accounts or through unknown ties, and stressed the importance of not drifting behind the tempting offers that seem good to the point of difficult to believe, and he said: “The basic principle is that dealing with licensed companies known within the state is not with unknown and unknown individuals.”

Al -Muhairi provided five main advice to protect consumers from these offers and know whether they are fake or not, namely: Lack of confidence in offers whose prices are less than the market by a large percentage, and not to deal with accounts that do not have a licensed commercial record in the country, and not send money to people but to well -known official companies, as well as the need to verify the existence of an official website and written contracts, and communicate with the original party before payment, especially in the case of suspicion of the validity of the offers.

He also called on the President of the Emirates Consumer Protection Association to enhance cooperation between the regulatory authorities in the country, especially the local economic development departments, the Communications Regulatory Authority and the digital government, and other competent authorities, with the aim of chasing fraudsters and closing accounts and fake sites in coordination with digital and banking services providers, stressing that consumer protection is a participatory responsibility that requires everyone’s solidarity without exception to protect consumers and preserve their money.