Cybercriminals Impersonate Dubai Police to Defraud Consumers in the UAE – Smishing Triad in Action

Attribute	Details
Threat Actors	Organized crime groups, Smishing Triad, Chinese-speaking actors collaborating with individuals from Indonesia, Vietnam, and others.
Campaign Overview	Fraud campaign targeting UAE residents by impersonating law enforcement, using phishing, smishing, and vishing techniques to extract payments for non-existent fines or personal data.
Target Regions	United Arab Emirates (UAE), particularly during the festive period around National Day (Eid Al Etihad).
Methodology	Phone calls impersonating Dubai Police, SMS/iMessage with fake payment requests, phishing emails mimicking e-government resources, and smishing scenarios using UAE PASS forms to steal credentials and personal information.
Product Targeted	Victims’ personal data, financial details (credit card information), and UAE PASS credentials.
Malware Reference	No direct malware referenced; use of phishing, smishing, and rogue payment forms for financial theft.
Tools Used	Fake payment portals, rogue SMS/iMessage, phishing templates, domains registered via Chinese and Singaporean registrars (e.g., “59.cn”, “Gname.com”).
Vulnerabilities Exploited	Exploitation of victims’ trust through social engineering, lack of verification in new gTLDs, and spam filter evasion using various phishing templates.
TTPs	Impersonation, social engineering, smishing, phishing, domain abuse, and financial extortion.
Attribution	Smishing Triad, Chinese-speaking threat actors, and their collaborators from Indonesia, Vietnam, and other nations.
Recommendations	Be cautious of unsolicited calls claiming to be from law enforcement; verify payment requests independently; monitor transactions; avoid clicking on links in suspicious messages; and report incidents to UAE authorities.
Source	Resecurity

Read full article:https://www.resecurity.com/blog/article/cybercriminals-impersonate-dubai-police-to-defraud-consumers-in-the-uae-smishing-triad-in-action

Disclaimer: The above summary has been generated by an AI language model