Scammed with fake tickets, expat gets money back after persistent efforts

When British expat Marie (name changed to protect privacy) was buying tickets for a popular concert online, she had no idea that the website she was on was fake.

- Nasreen Abdulla

She entered her card details, approved the OTP, and within a minute, Dh8,000 had vanished from her credit card.“For the first few seconds, I was just stumped,” she said. “I could not believe it. I thought I was buying tickets directly from the venue’s website. However, on closer examination, I found that there was a small spelling difference in the name of the website. That is when I realised that I had been scammed.”

The first thing Marie did was calling her bank’s call centre and blocking her card. “I remember being surprised that the customer service had the ‘need help with scam’ option pretty much first on the menu to choose from,” she said. “Clearly, it happens a lot.”

From fake websites that trick users into entering card details to micro frauds on social media, investment scams and fake rental listings, UAE residents face multiple fraud risks. Police and authorities have repeatedly issued advisories to educate the public.