The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) alerts the financial services community and the public to a scam involving the impersonation of the DFSA.

The scammers have sent a fake “DFSA Notice” by email in Russian. These fraudulent emails:

• falsely claim to be from the “DFSA Investor Protection Unit”. There is no such unit or department at the DFSA;
• use a fake email address, “[email protected]”, which has no connection to the DFSA. All legitimate DFSA addresses end with “dfsa.ae”;
• fraudulently use the DFSA’s real physical address; and
• use the DFSA logo without authorisation.

These emails also:

• falsely state that the DFSA had conducted an “investigation” and that the email recipients may have been victims of illegal financial activities perpetrated by brokerage firms;
• falsely claim that the recipients’ accounts with these fraudulent brokerage firms have been frozen;
• invite the recipients to apply for refunds under a fake “victim compensation procedure”; and
• request personal contact details, such as phone numbers or Telegram accounts, or direct the recipients to reach out to their “official channel” on Telegram (https://t.me/DFSA_GlobalSupport).

The DFSA confirms that these emails are fraudulent and are therefore not issued by the DFSA, and informs you that the DFSA does not:

• issue communications in Russian;
• use [email protected] or communicate via Telegram;
• disclose details about its investigations; or
• operate or facilitate any “victim compensation procedure”.

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

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