Low-tech fraudsters armed with little more than magic pens are conning people off hundreds of thousands of dirhams.

The Sharjah Police are warning residents against using someone else’s pen when signing cheques.

Police warns uniball and frixon pens are being used to forge cheques

Most of the cases registered with the police so far are regarding bank customers falling victims to ‘representatives’ of banks.

Recommended

Sharjah Announces How It Will Reduce Traffic By 30%!Abu Dhabi And Sharjah Are Home To The Top Universities In The Region2 Men Were Being Smuggled Into The UAE Inside A Car Bumper

These fraudsters are allegedly pretending to representatives of various banks and then issuing customers a debit or credit card against a cheque, while offering their pen to write the cheque amount. Later, as the ink disappears, they change the value of the cheque.

But worry not – the Criminal Laboratory Department at Sharjah Police told Gulf News that they have cutting edge equipment and expertise to crack such cases and identify what was written originally before the changes were made.

Still, just be careful and carry your own pens in case you need to sign anything official at any given point in the day!