UAE banks launch new initiative to stop fake documents

Banks in UAE have launched a new network to verify documents to prevent financial fraud.

Jamal Saleh, director general of UAE Banks Federation, said they have come up with a new initiative to stop fake documents and they have been successful in catching a few of them.

“We have created a network to verify whether documents are genuine or not. If you catch one, and few caught a few, you avoided making payment for the whole import of whole cargo which is tens of millions. There is always a new way of fraud,” he said.

There have been a few instances of documents being faked to sell properties, scam companies and others.

While speaking during the 2023 Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Fraud Conference Middle East, Saleh added that they always work in cooperation with the UAE Central Bank, which is extremely active in terms of legislation to deal with such challenges. Last year alone, he said, Central Bank issued 83 regulations, reflecting the regulator is very active and ready to deal with any issue.

He stressed that awareness and education of consumers are very important to deal with fraud

“People being wary of caller, message or email is equal to all the efforts being done by others… I don’t think frauds can be stopped permanently, but they can be reduced,” he said, adding that the Federation works with the law-enforcement authorities to solve the issues of the customers.

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