A flight attendant from Dubai of Portuguese origin lost all her savings in the amount of 200 thousand dirhams as a result of telephone fraud. Within 24 minutes, the money that she had been saving for more than two years, dreaming of quitting and returning to her homeland, was transferred by unknown persons to three different accounts.
The woman has been living in the UAE for more than four years, and constantly hears information about cases of phone fraud. Thanks to this, she never answered calls or messages from unknown numbers.
On that ill-fated day, the victim returned home after a long night flight, and was very exhausted. "I was waiting for a call from a friend who came from Portugal," she said, "which is the only reason I answered the call from an unknown number."
The call started when the scammers informed the woman that she had won a prize of 150,000 dirhams from Emirates NBD Bank in cooperation with a major exchange office in the UAE. She was at this exchange the day before. The criminals offered to update the banking app installed on the phone to the latest version of ENBD X, saying that this is necessary to receive the prize. During this process, she was tricked into revealing her details and password to log in to the app.
"Now that I say it out loud, I can't believe how stupid I was," she said, "but at that moment I was mesmerized." After receiving the login details, the scammers distracted the victim for the next 15 minutes, calling her phone numbers and asking her to write them down. "Looking back, I realize they were distracting me so I wouldn't check my phone and see bank notifications," she says.
In a short time, her account was emptied, and the money was sent to three different accounts. Although the woman doesn't have much hope of getting her money back, she wants her story to be a lesson to others. "Fraudsters are becoming more and more technologically advanced. Beware and don't trust anyone," the victim added.
The woman has been living in the UAE for more than four years, and constantly hears information about cases of phone fraud. Thanks to this, she never answered calls or messages from unknown numbers.
On that ill-fated day, the victim returned home after a long night flight, and was very exhausted. "I was waiting for a call from a friend who came from Portugal," she said, "which is the only reason I answered the call from an unknown number."
The call started when the scammers informed the woman that she had won a prize of 150,000 dirhams from Emirates NBD Bank in cooperation with a major exchange office in the UAE. She was at this exchange the day before. The criminals offered to update the banking app installed on the phone to the latest version of ENBD X, saying that this is necessary to receive the prize. During this process, she was tricked into revealing her details and password to log in to the app.
"Now that I say it out loud, I can't believe how stupid I was," she said, "but at that moment I was mesmerized." After receiving the login details, the scammers distracted the victim for the next 15 minutes, calling her phone numbers and asking her to write them down. "Looking back, I realize they were distracting me so I wouldn't check my phone and see bank notifications," she says.
In a short time, her account was emptied, and the money was sent to three different accounts. Although the woman doesn't have much hope of getting her money back, she wants her story to be a lesson to others. "Fraudsters are becoming more and more technologically advanced. Beware and don't trust anyone," the victim added.
