As Buy Now, Pay Later schemes grow in UAE, so do dangers of fraud

Rising fraud highlights the hidden risks behind the ease of deferred payments

- BY ZAINAB HUSAIN

A UAE resident recently lost nearly Dh20,000 after his Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) account was hacked, with purchases made in his name — all without a single OTP or alert. Cybersecurity experts say such attacks are becoming more common, often involving sophisticated account takeovers that slip past weak authentication systems.

Despite these risks, BNPL services are growing rapidly in popularity. The appeal is clear: buy expensive items instantly and spread the cost over months. But along with the risk of overspending and mounting debt, experts warn there’s another danger consumers often overlook — fraud and large-scale data leaks.

Increasing fraud attempts

Slava Demchuk, Certified Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Specialist and CEO of the global AML and KYC service platform AMLBot, told Gulf News that he has seen a growing trend of BNPL platforms being targeted by fraudsters.