Anti-fraud training: New steps to curb financial crime

Deal signed to train staff of over 100 exchange houses in the UAE

Dubai: Employees of over 100 exchange houses in the UAE will undergo training to curb financial crimes in the banking sector, following an agreement with Dubai Police and the UAE’s Foreign Exchange and Remittance Group (FERG).

Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, assistant commander-in-chief of criminal investigation affairs, Dubai Police and Mohammad Al Ansari, chairman of FERG, signed the MoU at the Dubai Police Officers’ Club on Wednesday to work towards cooperation and coordination in combating crimes committed by banking institutions in Dubai.

Together, they will develop programmes to spread awareness across members of nearly 100 exchange houses.

Major General Al Mansouri said, “We work together to prevent crimes by raising awareness among members of exchange houses and banks about frauds and scams.”

Suspicious links, messages, scams

Colonel Adel Al Joker, director of criminal investigation at Dubai Police, said: “The MoU will help exchange opinion and organise work between Dubai Police and FERG to help deal with the latest types of crimes, including cybercrimes. We will hold workshops conduct training on how to deal with suspicious links, messages or scams.”

As the custodian of the remittance and exchange industry in the UAE, FERG ensures that member houses build robust compliance infrastructure and use the latest technology to protect customers’ interest.

Mohammad Al Ansari, chairman of FERG, emphasised the importance of safety and security in the remittance industry.

“UAE has a diverse and well-established remittance and foreign exchange infrastructure. We organise frequent training programmes for our member exchange houses. This MoU will help boost our fight against financial crime,” Al Ansari said.

Safety during money transfers

Dubai Police said customers who transfer huge sums of money without taking precautionary measures pose a huge challenge.

“Some customers collect millions of dirhams from banks and exchange houses and walk alone on the streets. It encourage thieves to commit crimes. If precautionary measures are taken, we can reach zero crimes.”

Col Al Joker said flyers in multiple languages were being distributed among banks and exchange house customers to raise awareness on how to transfer large suma of cash in a secure way.

In June 2019, Dubai Police said over 811 cybercrime attacks related to banks were reported over the past three years.

Dubai Police helped resolved many of the cases. Some of them were contained within the UAE while others involved con artists based abroad.