UAE banking sector unites with law enforcement agencies to tackle fraud

Dubai: UAE’s first national fraud awareness campaign has been initiated with the collaboration of Dubai Police, Abu Dhabi Police, UAE Banks Federation (UBF), the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE). The main purpose of the initiative is to enlighten and protect consumers from financial cybercrime, especially during the increased use of digital banking services through the Coronavirus outbreak.

A joint initiative between the banking sector and police departments aims to educate and protect consumers from financial cybercrime and fraud. #dynamicCISO #linux #girlswhocode @rneelmani @hacback17https://t.co/hlgMzoURt8

— DynamicCISO (@dynamicCISO) April 15, 2020

As the banking industry has adopted modern means of providing better customer experience, fraudsters and scammers have also improvised their methods of conducting fraud. This can be depicted from the increase in the instances of cybercrimes. Sadly, the UAE is no exception to this trend. An 18.2 percent increase in fraud cases was reported in 2018 which again increased in 2019.

“As digital banking transactions are witnessing a significant spike, we at Central Bank of the UAE have been quick to deploy robust fraud prevention measures to protect consumers. Today’s announcement further validates this commitment”, said Abdul Hamid Saeed, Governor of Central Bank of the UAE.

Instances of fraudulent activities and cybercrime are expected to further increase around the globe. And with millions of people forced to confine themselves within the boundaries of their homes, COVID-19 related fraud is also expected to rise as criminals take advantage of people’s stress during these difficult times.

To cater to this menace and urge users to practice vigilance, the awareness campaign will be initiated across a number of social and traditional media channels with assistance from UBF Fraud Prevention Committee and UBF’s 53 member banks. Under the tagline #TogetherAgainstFraud, the content will consist of informational videos and articles that will raise awareness on how to detect scams and prevent them.

The campaign will continue until the end of 2020, concentrating on various topics every month. These include SIM exchange fraud, phishing, lottery scams, card skimming, email manipulation fraud, and data privacy.