The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and members of the public to a fake letter in which the DFSA and a member of the DFSA’s senior management were impersonated.

This is an advanced fee scam, in which the scammers claiming to be from a facilities management service sent a letter purportedly from the DFSA’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Authorisation, as an attachment to their own letter. Their letter is titled “Confirmation of Performance Undertaking” and claims that the facilities management service has been appointed “as fiduciary for the filing costs and activities required at the Dubai Financial Services Authority to release your loan.” 

The fake letter from the DFSA states:

“This is to notify you that the Insurance License number… to cover a project Loan… is not accepted by the Authority.

…Insurance brokerage License is not valid enough to issue a license to [company name]…

…[company name] should pay a filing cost of $205,000 USD to [the facilities management service] as usual to enable us release the Loan [sic]…”

The letter also lists the name of the recipients and the eligible monetary amount.

In an attempt to make the scam seem authentic, the scammers fraudulently used the DFSA logo and they used the name, position and purported signature of the DFSA’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Authorisation without permission.

The DFSA informs you that:

• The letter is false, fraudulent and was not sent by the DFSA;
• The DFSA does not appoint others to act as a fiduciary in respect of its fees or activities, or to send out correspondence on its behalf; and
• The DFSA does not approve the release of funds nor does it charge filing costs for the approval of loan agreements.

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 it 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 Dubai International Financial Centre (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