The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and the public to a scam in which a legitimate DFSA Authorised Firm (the Legitimate Firm) was impersonated.

The scammers:

• falsely offered loans;
• operated a fraudulent website with the following URL - https://sidra-capitalfinance.com.  The URL is deceptively similar to the URL of the Legitimate Firm.  The fraudulent website does not belong to the Legitimate Firm and has since been taken down;
• used a fake email address – [email protected] - which does not belong to the Legitimate Firm;
• misappropriated the Legitimate Firm’s Saudi Arabian office address in its whatsapp messages;
• communicated by phones or whatsapp messaging using different phone numbers – including +971 54 759 6133 and +966 598 532 487 - which do not belong to, and have no connection with, the Legitimate Firm;
• impersonated staff members of the Legitimate Firm from its Dubai and Saudi Arabian offices by referencing their names; and
• provided an Emirates NBD bank account number 3708507951801 and IBAN AE040340003708507951801, in the name of Gorkha Yonghang, for the deposit of funds.

To perpetrate the scam, the scammers:

• made unsolicited calls to members of the public misrepresenting that they were from the Legitimate Firm;
• invited members of the public to open digital accounts at the fraudulent website and to become borrowers; and
• misrepresented that, due to wrong IBAN details, the transfers of loan funds to the borrowers were unsuccessful; and
• further misrepresented to the borrowers that they were required to pay a penalty to unfreeze loan funds.

The DFSA informs you that:

• the above-mentioned fraudulent website, email address, phone numbers, bank account details do not belong to the Legitimate Firm;
• the scammers are not, and have never been, authorised by the DFSA to provide loans or online financing solutions to the public; and
• the Legitimate Firm does not ask for payments or personal information online.

The Legitimate Firm has published a Security Notice on its website to alert the public and its clients to the scam.

The DFSA strongly advises you not to respond to any communications regarding this scam, and under no circumstances should you send or give any money to any party connected to the scam.

The DFSA has a page on its website dedicated to alerts which has issued about scams. All alerts issued by the DFSA may be accessed by going to Alerts

The DFSA has also issued warnings and guidance about the common types of scams perpetrated on consumers. For more information on these scams, please go to How to avoid being scammed

The DFSA encourages consumers to refer to the list of regulated Firms and Authorised Individuals licensed by the DFSA that is available on the DFSA's Public Register

If you have any concerns about the authenticity of any correspondence or documents that purport to be issued by the DIFC, DFSA or a DFSA-regulated Firm, you should direct your concerns to the DIFC on Tel: +971 4 362 2222 and to the DFSA via the DFSA Complaints function on Complaints