Sharjah Police arrest fraudster for trying to phish Dhs2.8m out of an advertising firm

The General Command of Sharjah Police arrested, in less than eight hours, a phisher, specialised in fraud, after he attempted to steal Dhs2.8 million.

In detail, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Bin Haider, Acting Chief of the Buhaira Comprehensive Police Station, explained that the station received a report at dawn on Wednesday (Aug.17), at 3.00am, from a director of an advertising company in the emirate of Sharjah, complaining that the company's account had been phished, and Dhs1.1 million had been stolen.

Lieutenant Colonel Bin Haider indicated that the phisher hacked the company's electronic account and knew its commercial transactions.

He also monitored the transfer of Dhs2.8 million from a company in a GCC country.

The suspect reportedly emailed that company and asked it to transfer the amount to another bank account under the pretext of changing the original one, so the GCC company transferred the amount to the new account.

The suspect seized Dhs1.1 million out of the whole amount he planned to steal (Dhs2.8 million.)

Bin Haider explained that evidences showed that the suspect withdrew Dhs1.1 million, through seven cash withdrawals from several separate branches of banks in the emirate and abroad.

A team of from the comprehensive Buhaira police station and criminal investigations was formed to catch the suspect before seizing the remaining amount.

Investigations were conducted and it was found that the suspect was in a bank in one of the emirates, with the aim of withdrawing the remaining amount, and accordingly he was caught in the act, and referred to the Public Prosecution to complete the legal procedures.

Bin Haider called on the owners of private companies and institutions to adopt an electronic system to ensure that these systems have the approved standards and specifications of information security, to avoid being trapped into electronic intrusions.

He pointed to the importance of following up on bank accounts, and monitoring any suspicious or unfamiliar movement on them.