Sumaya… A prey in the hands of fraudsters

Dubai Public Prosecution: She wrote asking help from Instagram followers: “I need a domestic worker quickly, please call on my private number”. Those sentences posted by “Sumaya” made her an easy prey in the hands of fake account fraudsters rampant on social media sites… It was ignorance of Sumaya about the cheating and fraud by accounts that some believe to be true because of the images and false information that hide the truth about it and the large numbers of fictitious followers who are bought for a nominal amount, wanting to entrap the users who are like “Sumaya”, ignorant of the most basic principles of information security… Sumaya wanted easy solutions to get a domestic worker, a mother of five children, as well as an employee working from home due to the Covid-19.

The pressures of work and the tasks that she accomplishes 24 hours by the institution wherein she works is making it more difficult for her, especially after the domestic worker traveled prematurely. Therefore, it was difficult to visit the offices of domestic workers and she was in a complete mess as well as in need of arranging her situation recently. Therefore, she went to Instagram in the hope to find someone who extends a helping hand, as she has often been to accounts that helped her to find solutions to any problem that occurs and share with followers their experiences in various matters of life.

But Sumaya does not know that sharing a general information is not like sharing the private information of the user himself, and to trust the information provided by the other user does not mean to trust in his identity and source.. Her confidence in the solutions that come from behind the screen was growing and thus, she made the mistake…

Sumaya communicated with one of the accounts that identified itself as specialized in the supply of domestic worker and has a license from the competent authorities and can help Sumaya and cooperate with her in order to provide the best workers to her, until she was lured to WhatsApp to talk about the details and convince her in better way… While Sumaya was talking to the Domestic Worker Account In-Charge, she was also quickly browsing the posts of the account, which includes many followers, publishing pictures of this employment on a regular basis and putting attractive prices and specifications for each housewife. Sumaya was pleased by what she saw, but what she saw was nothing but an illusion..
The accused “in-charge of fictitious account’ sent pictures of several female workers on WhatsApp so as Sumaya choose one of them. The accused told her that the supply fee of the domestic worker amounted to 10,000 dirhams and she has to pay an advance amount of 4,000 dirhams before proceeding with the procedures. Thus, she was able to cheat the victim “Sumaya” and entrap her when she transferred the money through the bank account of the accused…

Lesson
Don’t trust all users over the internet and you must deal with them with caution so as to be sure of their true identity, avoid disclosing sensitive and confidential information about you via social networking sites. You must know that the safest way is to proceed to the official offices and entities. Educate yourself more about the information security so that you don’t fall victim to exploitation and electronic fraud.