DFSA Impersonated in an Advance Fee Scam
21 Aug 2016
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and the public about a fraudulent scheme in which the DFSA has been impersonated.
The scammers fraudulently:
- impersonate the DFSA and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC);
- impersonate a DFSA employee;
- provide bank account holders with a false document in the form of a “Stop Order”, claiming that the transfer of bank account funds by the account holder have been placed on hold by the DIFC; and
- further claim that the account funds will only be transferred once the account holder pays an advance fee of $168,857.30 to the DIFC so that the DIFC can issue an “irrevocable bond”, which will allow the funds to be released.
A copy of the fraudulent “Stop Order” document can be found here.
The DFSA informs you that:
- the “Stop Order” is a false document;
- neither the DFSA nor the DIFC issue “Stop Orders” which place funds held in any bank accounts “on hold”;
- the DIFC does not issue any “irrevocable bonds”; and
- the scammers have fraudulently used the name of the DIFC, the DFSA and a DFSA employee without authority and for a malicious purpose.
One of the red flags that distinguishes a fraudulent document from one that is legitimate is the poor grammatical use of the English language, which is apparent in the fraudulent “Stop Order”.
The DFSA strongly advises that individuals do not respond to any communication regarding the scam, and under no circumstances should they send any money to any party involved in the scam.
The DFSA has a page on its website dedicated to alerts which it has issued about scams. All alerts issued by the DFSA may be accessed by going to: ALERTS.
The DFSA has also issued warnings and guidance about the common types of scams perpetrated on consumers. For more information on these scams, please go to: HOW TO AVOID BEING SCAMMED.The DFSA encourages consumers to refer to the list of regulated Firms and Authorised Individuals licensed by the DFSA that is available on the DFSA’s PUBLIC REGISTER.
If you have any concerns about the authenticity of any correspondence or documents that purport to be issued by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), DFSA or a DFSA regulated Firm, you should direct your concerns to the DIFC on Tel:+971 4 362 2222 and to the DFSA via the DFSA Complaints function on: COMPLAINTS.
Link:
Filed under: DFSA Updates, Fraud
