Don't fall for that cash prize scam, police warn residents

Abu Dhabi - In an awareness message on Twitter, the police urged residents not to disclose their credit card and bank account details.

Don't fall for those cash prizes that scammers promise you over phone calls or through SMSes, which are meant to dupe you by extracting your bank details, the Abu Police have said in a fresh warning.
In an awareness message on Twitter, the police urged residents not to disclose their credit card and bank account details to other people and not to respond to calls and suspicious messages.
The police message aims at raising people's awareness about mobile phone scammers so they can keep them at bay.
In February this year, the Abu Dhabi Police reported that 13 phone scam gangs, involving 142 people, were arrested in Abu Dhabi for duping residents of their cash after illegally obtaining their bank details. 
The fraudsters, mostly Asians, were caught in various operations from 2019 until February 2020, said the police. 
Some of the gangs were making fraudulent calls, including those that promised the victims fake prizes, designed to extract their credit card number and personal details while others pretended to be bank employees. They prodded victims to share their personal information so their account details in the bank systems could be updated, according to the police. After getting the details, the scammers used it to steal the victims' money from bank accounts and credit cards.
Police also recorded 525 reports and cases of phone scams last year.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi