Two men arrested in Sharjah over cybercrime thefts worth more than Dh3 million

A third suspect remains at large with Sharjah working with Dubai counterparts

The scammers gained access to 173 different bank accounts in the UAE. Photo: istockphoto.com

Two men were arrested in Sharjah over cybercrimes that swindled people out of more than Dh3 million ($816,880).

The pair, of African origin, were able to scam victims by gaining access to 173 different local bank accounts.

These bank accounts belong to former UAE residents who had sold access to their accounts to the criminals.

The case, referred to as Case 173 due to the number of bank accounts involved, remains under investigation.

A third suspect is still on the run with Dubai Police working with their counterparts in Sharjah to secure his arrest.

Sharjah Police’s Criminal Investigations Department initially received a report from a man scammed out of nearly Dh85,000.

“The man received an email to update his information and clicked a link, resulting in nearly Dh85,000 being withdrawn from his bank account,” said Brig Omar Ahmed Abu Al Zoud, director of the Criminal Investigations Department at Sharjah Police.

Following up on this report, investigations revealed that the money was transferred to a bank account inside the country.

The account's activity was kept under surveillance after police officers noted multiple cash withdrawals.

This led to identifying the two suspects and locating their residence. The men were arrested in Sharjah last week.

A large haul

Officers seized a little more than Dh95,000 in cash from the two suspects.

Bank cards from 173 local bank accounts used in fraud incidents were found in their possession.

Sharjah Police shared this image of the stash of money, bank cards, phones and wallets they recovered. Photo: Sharjah Police

“These bank accounts, their cards, and card passcodes, were purchased by another two Asian suspects who run the crime from outside the country,” said the Brigadier.

“This is something new and worked as a lead for us, given that in most cases of electronic fraud that we deal with, the money is immediately transferred to bank accounts outside the country.”

Another 132 chequebooks, 21 mobile phones, 18 Emirates IDs, and six fake company stamps were also found with the suspects and confiscated.

Further investigations linked the suspects to 11 similar reports lodged across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain, with the value of money stolen in these reports exceeding Dh3 million.

One of the reports involves Dh690,000 being stolen and Dh600,000 in another.

“We are in contact with relevant authorities, including those in the security and banking sectors, to find out the overall amount of money in these accounts and its movement.”

He said they face challenges posed by an increase in electronic cases.

“More than 260 cases of fake employment, which is one type of many electronic crimes, were recently dealt with,” said the brigadier.

He said the most recent case involved Dh300,000 being stolen from a woman, but officers were able to recover the amount.

“Through this woman’s case, we were able to identify other victims of the same suspect who scammed her, and we were able to recover money for some victims from other emirates.”

Most victims of cybercrime are aged between 20 and 40.

Chief of Sharjah Police said announcing the details of this case is not for show-off but to help spread more awareness given that more people are still falling victim to these crimes.

“We don’t aim to just share thrilling content of a case but rather expand security awareness in a community that has people from all walks of life,” said Major General Saif Al Zari Al Shamsi, the Commander-in-Chief of Sharjah Police.

“This is a crime that targets everyone, the young and old from all nationalities, and it’s an ever-evolving transnational crime,” he said.

Staff Sgt Nouf Alharmoodi, an information technology expert with Sharjah Police, said recently there have been four types of cybercrime that are most common.

“These include fake employments, fake websites, impersonating websites of public departments and authorities, and hacking,” she said.

Police will continue to warn people and raise awareness, but it’s the public’s responsibility to be more cautious, she said.

“People need to double-check the URL, which is the address of the online source, because criminals tend to change one letter here or there in the URL,” she said.

She urged people to avoid clicking any links received in emails and in text or WhatsApp messages before double-checking they are legitimate and from genuine sources.