Dubai financial regulator unearths Internet fraud
Sameer Bhardwaj
the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Court on Wednesday
evening to close down fraudulent web sites in which predominantly
Australian and Singaporean investors had already invested at least
$600,000.
The modus operandi involved setting up web sites for fictitious and
non-existent entities claiming to offer financial services within the
DIFC - the Dubai Options Exchange, the UAE Commodities Futures Board,
and Cambridge Capital Trading.
The fraudsters had created dummy web sites on which they posted
detailed fabricated documents, which looked like official ones. "The
documents appear to have been copied from genuine exchanges and
regulators," said DFSA chief executive, David Knott, while addressing
the media yesterday. Investors were also told that the Dubai Options
Exchange was regulated by a specialist derivatives regulator, the UAE
Commodities Futures Board.
Injunctions were brought against a person named Husam Abu Amara, and
Globalstar Telecom & Technology, forcing them to close down the
fraudulent web sites. The orders also relate to Internet service
providers (ISPs). The DFSA's application to the court stated that the
defendants had falsely represented that the Dubai Options Exchange and
the UAE Commodity Futures Board existed in the DIFC and that the DFSA
Authorised Firms were members of the Dubai Options Exchange, and could
trade currency options on behalf of investors.
Cambridge Capital Trading also created a fictitious London address and
a telephone contact point in Dubai. This turned out to be the office
of Globalstar and was serviced by a digital answering machine.
The false websites were established through "GoDaddy", an ISP in
Arizona, USA, using a billing address in Singapore. Although the
Singapore authorities are chasing down this address, it is expected
that it will lead to a cyber café with a prepaid access account. The
DFSA also stresses that there is no reason to believe that the ISP was
aware of these websites being used for fraudulent purposes.