UAE banks launch new initiative to stop document forgery – News

There have been several cases of forged documents to sell properties and defraud companies

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

Jamal Saleh, director general of the Federation of UAE Banks, said they have come up with a new initiative to stop forged documents and they have already managed to capture some of them.

“We’ve created a network to verify that documents are authentic. If you catch one, and very few people catch several, you avoid paying tens of millions of dollars for an entire import. There’s always a new way to cheat ,”He said.

There have been instances of documents being falsified to sell property, defrauding companies and others.

Speaking at the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Middle East Fraud Conference 2023, Saleh added that they have been working with the Central Bank of the UAE, which is very active in legislation to address such challenges. Last year alone, the central bank issued 83 regulations, reflecting the regulator’s proactivity and readiness to respond to any issues, he said.

He emphasized that consumer awareness and education are very important to combat fraud

“People being vigilant about callers, messages or emails is equivalent to all the efforts that other people are making … I don’t think the fraud can be stopped permanently, but it can be reduced,” he said, adding that the federation is acting under the law – law enforcement resolves Customer’s question.

“A key issue is how to ensure that people are fully aware of what is good and what is not. That will continue to be the number one challenge,” he said.

Jamal Saleh added that if people use their accounts wisely, there is no room for their accounts to be compromised.

Mariam Al Amir, Assistant Undersecretary for General Financial Management at the Ministry of Finance, said that to protect the economy from cyber fraud, it is paramount to spread awareness to address these challenges.

“We want to make our region safer, so we need to work together to make it safer and more stable. The UAE’s efforts in this regard are groundbreaking,” she said in opening remarks on the first day of the two-day summit explain.