UAE Central Bank warns against opening fraudulent WhatsApp messages

The UAE Central Bank (CBUAE) has warned consumers to look out for malicious and fraudulent WhatsApp messages claiming to be from the CBUAE.

“CBUAE advises to avoid responding to such messages, and opening any hyperlink that may be attached, which may provide exposure to a malicious website,” it said in a statement.

The Central Bank stressed that it never uses social media to contact persons or businesses.

The statement also urged consumers to protect their bank account information and credit/debit cards from fraudulent and unauthorised use.

The UAE has seen a rise in scams via messaging app WhatsApp in recent months.

In September, a fraudulent message claiming to be from du conned subscribers into believing that they had been selected in a lucky draw and won Dhs200,000, while asking for the serial number of their SIM cards.

In June, the Abu Dhabi Police also warned the public that it was seeing a rise in fraudulent messages on social media applications, such as WhatsApp, that use fake trademarks to steal personal information including usernames, passwords and credit card numbers.

Authorities cautioned social media users to avoid clicking on any links unless they can verify the sender’s identity, and also urged them not to reveal any personal information.