With the frequency and relative regularity of news about online scams in the UAE, it is quite safe to say that the residents (unfortunately) have not yet learned their lesson on such.
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That being said, the government, to say the least, has always been proactively issuing advisories and statements to help residents identify current scams going around online, but more than that, citizens must be responsible enough to guard their own online safety and privacy.
![[WATCH] Abu Dhabi Police Share 5 Tips to Avoid Online Scams](https://dubaiofw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/5-tips-online-scam-banner.png)
[VIDEO] 5 Ways to Avoid Scammers Online
On that note, the Abu Dhabi Police posted a video on their official Instagram account in which they advised people to avoid fraudsters by following five important steps, as shared by the Khaleej Times.
According to the police, residents should:
- NOT reply to any suspicious or unknown calls or (spam) messages;
- AVOID visiting any suspicious websites, especially those that pose as famous brands, personalities, or company names, which share similar but unofficial content to the ones they are posing as;
- NOT BELIEVE in any fake prize messages sent to them via texts or calls, which ask them for their personal and/or sensitive information;
- NOT GIVE OUT any personal or sensitive information to calls or texts, and even online ads that promise jobs or prizes out of nowhere; and
- REPORT any instances of calls or messages of this nature to the police.
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As fraudsters keep developing or reinventing ways on how to manipulate their victims, it’s important for all of us to exercise caution and critical thinking whenever we encounter any suspicious activities.
The video posted by the police comes at a time when the government campaigns for the awareness of residents regarding the various ways fraudsters use to lure in new victims.
And even if we manage to identify the activities used by scammers to dupe other people, it’s not enough that we protect only ourselves, because our family or people we know could be their next victims. Therefore, it’s also important that we coordinate with authorities by reporting incidences of malicious phone calls or text messages from unknown sources, which attempt to “phish” our data and privacy, and eventually our security details.
Here’s a video posted by the Abu Dhabi Police on Instagram:
Furthermore, it is our responsibility to keep our account and passwords updated and free from the access of strangers and other people beside ourselves. We can do this by setting up new passwords to each of our accounts on a regular basis and then keeping this information safe at all times.
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