UAE no exception when it comes to scam calls

Phone scams may be less of a problem in the UAE than other countries, but unwanted calls could be something that telephone users here increasingly have to deal with, experts say.

ABU DHABI // Phone scams may be less of a problem in the UAE than in other countries, but unwanted calls could be something that telephone users here increasingly have to deal with, experts say.

Coming from countries such as India, China, Turkey and Russia, scammers may target English-speaking nations first, but they could eventually target the UAE, said Payas Gupta, post-doctoral fellow at New York University’s Abu Dhabi’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Security and Privacy.

“Attackers don’t care,” Dr Gupta said. “They don’t care whether you are in the UAE or the US.”

Regulators had warned mobile-phone users in August to beware of callers posing as service providers trying to seek information, often involving a caller from a mobile phone promising cash prizes.

Maitha Almuhairi, 32, from Dubai, received about three scam calls in the past four years from people calling from a mobile and saying she had won a large amount of money.

“I realised those were scam callers because you would never receive a call from a mobile number claiming to be a staff member from a company such as Etisalat. It’s pretty obvious, really.”

She guessed that many people had received similar calls.

“I wouldn’t have received three calls if it hadn’t worked for some of them, right?” she said.

Akshar Uchil, a 21-year-old Indian student in Abu Dhabi, said he received a call about four or five months ago saying that he had won a free trip to India courtesy of Abu Dhabi Country Club.

He said he received about two to three unwanted calls a month.

The prize money scam may sound fake to most people, but some lower-wage workers fall for it “and end up sending every penny that’s been asked for”, Mr Uchil said.

Dr Gupta said some people fell for the scams because of a lack of awareness or because they were part of a vulnerable group, such as the elderly or lower-wage workers.

“If I call a construction worker, it’s very easy to fool them if I say, ‘you’ve won $100’,” he said.