Rising WhatsApp Job Scams in UAE: Experts Urge Vigilance Against ‘Smishing’ Tactics

Residents of the UAE are falling victim to fake job offers from their contacts on the application – particularly on the WhatsApp – prompting smishing scams, experts have now warned. These scams are on the rise because the criminals are using advanced technological instruments in the process.

Speaking about smishing, Emile Abou Saleh, Senior Regional Director for Middle East, Turkey & Africa at Proofpoint stated that smishing is now considered to be an essential aspect of threats marking the UAE’s presence on this list. “With the popularity of utilizing the application WhatsApp, the criminals are now targeting it. ”

For instance, per geographical region, another study by Proofpoint showed that 88 percent of users in the Middle East region had fallen victim to at least one smishing attack in the year preceding the research, which was a constituent of an increment of 33 percent in comparison to the previous year. The effects of these scams targets the UAE residents in general, and more especially residents engaged in a job hunt since the rate of Smartphone and internet usage has been significantly high in this country.

Employers know that job seekers are mostly desperate for a job, especially when they are broke, that is why they come up with fake jobs that promise big money. Some potential scams are confusion about the position, upfront payments, and asks for fast work concerning money.

A fake job offer seen by Arabian Business from an Indonesian phone number read: “Hello everybody, I am Alicia. Our company serves large organizations that require pay-per-view and we have identified the need for partners to rate content 5 stars in the Google Maps platform and be paid for the services. The jobs are remote and one can spend 30-60 minutes a day to make money. Pay: AED 1000-AED 30000 daily. ”

It is crucial to confirm fraud by contacting the employer using the business URL or the details provided by the known and official addresses and phone numbers. These are any unsolicited job offers that might seem too good to be true and which come with the following elements; high pay rates, little or no actual work, and low-quality written or spoken English. These fraudsters easily ask for details and contribution that they allegedly need for transaction fee or coaching.

Abs’s advice was to be safe and not to click on links whose source cannot be confirmed; Not a bad piece of advice. It is commonly quoted that ‘Awareness is your first line of defense. ’

The UAE government has incorporated specific cybercrime departments and informs the public about arrests and operations against fake groups. Perceivability and paranoia are valuable assets when dealing with these cyber threats.