Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Dubai: Mounting cases of hacked debit and credit cards and cash losses by unsuspecting victims is leading Dubai Police to warn the public to avoid clicking on suspicious links or using illegal software.

With more aggressive phishing and online theft becoming the norm globally, unwitting smartphone users who are not more discrete when surfing online are opening themselves up to potential electronic identity theft.

And naive phone owners who store their card passwords and pins inside their phone’s memory are just asking for trouble, police said on Wednesday.

Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, said that one recent theft in Dubai, for example, involved a Gulf national who was surprised when strangers drained his card shopping in different countries around the world. The hackers racked up Dh30,000 in illicit purchases in London and Nigeria.

“He saved his credit card and the pin number inside his phone and the hackers managed to get the details and use it. They withdrew Dh30,000 from his account,” Maj Gen Al Mansouri said.

Lieutenant Colonel Salem Bin Salmeen, deputy director of Cyber-Crimes Department in Dubai Police, said the victim alerted police asking for help but it was too late as the crime had taken place outside the UAE.

“He had an iPhone and he stored his card and pin number inside. The problem is he made the access to his phone easier as he used jailbreak and the hackers managed to access his data and pictures through an application he downloaded through jailbreak. They used the card to steal his money,” Lt Col Bin Salmeen said.

Dubai Police asked the man to contact his bank to close the card to prevent more shopping purchases.

“We investigated in the matter and asked him to provide a list of hotels and restaurants he visited recently and we didn’t know the hacker was from outside the country until we discovered the application inside his phone because of using jailbreak,” he added.

Dubai Police warned the public from downloading non-verified software or application unless it is from verified sources to prevent hackers from accessing their devices.

“Don’t click on any link until you know it’s trusted one. The links which contain numbers and samples might be viruses or malwares which can ruin your device and steal the data to use it against you in many ways like theft or blackmail,” Lt Col Bin Salmeen said.

He claimed that police have been conducting as many as 2,000 electronic monitoring operations each month to prevent cyber crime before it happens in the country.

by Ali Al Shouk Staff Reporter

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