Beware: Dubai Financial Services Authority Scam!

Magic $1 Million

For whatever reason, the people who orchestrate any lottery scam always seem to go for the magic number of $1 million as the “prize” money. The latest scam that uses this amount is the DFSA Emirates Lottery Foundation.

What Does It Say?

According to the DFSA website, the scam uses falsified documents that are supposedly issued by the DFSA. The orchestrators claim that the person who is named in the papers is the winner of $1 million (isn’t that surprising) and the funds come from the Emirates Lottery Foundation Promo. The scammers use the logo and the name of the foundation—they even went as far as using the signature of a former employee of DFSA to draw more attention to the scam.

Below is an example of the document that people have received:

Necessary Course of Action

Like with other lottery scams that try to make innocent people part ways with their hard earned money, the authorities urge people who receive the above document not to respond. It is recommended that you reach out to the authorities regarding the matter. The DFSA has also issued several other statements that people need to be aware of. These statements include:

• The “Emirates Lottery Foundation Promo” is non-existent in Dubai or the United Arab Emirates.
• DFSA does not participate in lotteries, nor does it approve of transfers of lottery monies.
• The DFSA does not issue a fee about any transferring of monies.
• DFSA has never, and will never, issue “Funds Clearance Certificates.”
• The signature and name of the former DFSA employee are being used without permission by the individual.

Other DFSA Scams

This is not the first instance where the Dubai Financial Services Authority has been associated with. In October 2013, there were instances where fraudulent emails were circulating, supposedly sent by the Dubai International Financial Centre governor, Abdullah Saleh, and DIFC member Hussain Al Qemzi.

These emails, though not associated with the lottery, stated the DIFC wanted to relocate and conduct business outside of Dubai. The emails offered to provide financial assistance for projects in private sectors located outside of the Arabian Gulf. The projects had to utilize a five-year “renewable” loan whose interest rate had to be three percent.

There was another scam which was sent from a Gmail address that was supposed to be from Al Qemzi. These emails claimed that the recipient of the email was able to take out a $50 million loan in the form of 10 year-renewable loans with an interest rate of six percent. Those who were interested in the loan were asked to pay an initial fee of £5,500 (Dh32,471) to begin the loan process.

The Greedy Never Stop

It never ceases to amaze me how creative people will get when they want to deceive others. It is always a good idea to be skeptical whenever you receive an offer that is too good to be true, even if it looks legitimate. If you are ever in doubt, discard the correspondence—or report it to the appropriate authorities.