Scams and fraud have been around forever and for it to lurk to social media, was only a matter of time. Dubai Police identified the skyrocketing numbers of scams online that started during COVID-19 lockdown.

Dubai Police are urging the public to stay alert at the possibility of scams on social media because this isn’t the first one!

Al Rashidiya Police Station reported 14 fraudsters that were scamming people who were looking to hire domestic helpers during the peak of the pandemic

Those looking for domestic helpers online are requested to remain vigilant and not fall prey to cybercriminals and scams, The Dubai Police General Command says

According to Director Brigadier Saeed Hamad bin Sulaiman Al Malik, 14 reports of fraudsters have been recorded on the scam of providing people with domestic helpers. The total number of money gathered from the scams was AED87,520 since the beginning of the pandemic until February 2021.

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The fraudsters deluded victims by promising them to bring domestic helpers into the country in return for AED9,000 to 13,000 in recruitment and administrative fees,

Brig. Al Malik said.

Since the lockdown put a halt on labour recruitment, scammers took advantage of that and promised people they would bring domestic helpers into the country despite the travel bans.

The way scammers proceeded to fraud people was by forging contracts under a name of a labour agency to look legit. Revealing another fraud case, Brig. Al Malik said that one scammer, in order to gain the trust of a family, indeed provided them with one domestic helper. After the family requested three additional helpers for AED35,000 that were transferred to the scammer’s bank account, the scammer began to ignore their calls and requests for week and then disappeared.

After receiving the reports from citizens and residents, the task team formed an investigation and successfuly tracked down and arrested the suspects.

The Director of Al Rashidiya Police Station warn the public of online advertisements of individuals who claim to be representatives of labour recruitment agencies as they can be scams

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