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DFSA Issues Alert on Advance Fee Frauds Misusing the DIFC’s Name


The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and members of the public to fraudulent activities by individuals who claim to be regulated by, or associated with, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).  These individuals are using documents that bear the DIFC letterhead.

The reported conduct involves people falsely advising victims that:
• funds are available which they can access; or
• fictitious loans are available.  The terms of these loans carry the promise of swift finalisation and release of funds.
Having agreed to access the funds or to take up the loan, the victim is then told that registration with the DIFC is required for which a fee is required.  False DIFC documents, bearing the DIFC letterhead are used by the individuals to legitimise the fraudulent activity. 
 
Such activities are Advance Fee scams.  For more information on such scams, please go to:

http://www.dfsa.ae/Pages/Alerts/HowToAvoidBeingScammed.aspx
 
In order to prevent any persons from falling victim to such Advance Fee scams, the DFSA would like to emphasise the following:
 
• When dealing with Firms or Individuals claiming to be in contact or associated in any way with the DFSA or the DIFC, ensure that you check the DFSA’s and the DIFC’s Public Registers to confirm the authenticity of the Firm.  These Public Registers can be found at:
 
http://www.dfsa.ae/PublicReqister/Default.aspx
 
http://www.difc.ae/browse-directory

• The DFSA informs you that neither the DFSA nor the DIFC levies any fees in respect of loans, investments or for access to funds.  The DFSA, therefore, strongly advises you to be very wary of Firms who claim to be charging such fees which are payable to the DIFC.

• Neither the DIFC nor the DFSA approves transactions made by Authorised Firms or Individuals on behalf of clients.  If you receive a DIFC form advising you that such a fee is required by the DIFC, please do not respond to the communication.  Report the incident directly to us using the DFSA Complaints function on our website:

http://www.dfsa.ae/Pages/Complaints/ComplaintType.aspx
 
If you have any concerns about the authenticity of a Firm’s regulatory status, or any DFSA correspondence you can direct your concerns to the DFSA using the Complaints function above or by calling the DFSA on +971 4 362 1576.