The General Command of Sharjah Police has foiled a criminal scheme carried out by an electronic fraud network comprising 7 suspects of Asian nationalities, who relied on impersonating official figures.
The network lured victims into downloading applications that allowed remote control of their mobile phones, before seizing their funds and transferring them through bank accounts opened by exploiting workers' data in exchange for money or promises of travel tickets.
Brigadier Dr. Khalifa Balhaj, Director of the Criminal Investigation and Investigations Directorate, explained that the case began with a report from an Arab individual who was defrauded after receiving a call from persons who impersonated a public official and persuaded him to download a remote-control application, enabling them to access his bank account and transfer a sum of money to one of the accounts within the country.
He added that investigation teams were able to identify the owner of the bank account that received the funds, who confessed to having been lured by members of the network into opening the account in his name in exchange for a financial benefit, with investigations subsequently leading to the arrest of the remaining network members.
Investigations revealed that the suspects operated according to a fully organised structure that included recruiting workers, opening bank accounts in their names, and then using those accounts to channel funds obtained from electronic fraud crimes in exchange for commissions.
During the search and seizure operations, police recovered bank cards, chequebooks, and passports, along with mobile phones, tablets, computers, and storage devices, as well as company stamps, documents, and financial records, before all suspects were referred to the Public Prosecution.
Sharjah Police called on members of the public not to download any applications based on calls from unknown sources, not to share personal or banking data with any untrusted party, to verify the identity of callers before conducting any financial transactions, and to immediately report any fraud attempts.