Losing Money Twice: Victims of Fake Trading Schemes Fall Prey to Bogus Lawyers
Lawmakers and technicians have revealed that the alignment behind promises of quick wealth, promoted by digital trading platforms, pushes many victims into a repeated cycle of deception. After losing their savings on fake platforms that exploit ambition coupled with a lack of experience, some find themselves in front of a new no less dangerous trap, represented by entities and offices claiming to be able to recover money for prepaid fees and tempting promises.
They noted that victims can face successive scams: the first drains their savings, and the next exploits their hope of recovering them. Complex fraud networks repeatedly target the same people, taking advantage of technological developments, digital advertising and limited legal and financial awareness.
In detail, Emirati lawyers warned that the dreams of quick wealth promoted by online trading platforms have turned for many young people into a double financial nightmare. After getting involved in fake platforms that take over their savings with promises of extraordinary profits, some victims find themselves the target of a new scam, led by entities claiming to be law firms, claiming the ability to recover stolen money, and between false promises, the savings are wasted. The suffering of the victims is deepened, in a continuous chain of deception and exploitation.
"Emarat Al Youm" spotted extensive social media ads for companies and law firms claiming to be able to recover the money lost by victims of counterfeit trading firms and cryptocurrency platforms, using marketing phrases aimed at polarizing those affected, including: "Today is the last day to register and get free counseling from a legal team", "Did you get scammed by trading firms or cryptocurrency platforms? Don't waste your right", as these ads claim that the advertising offices are licensed internationally and in the Gulf countries, have over 20 years of experience, are strictly confidential, affirm that more than 500 people have been able to recover their money in record time through their services, and also claim to have the necessary capabilities to track money and digital assets and recover them from fake companies, in an attempt to convince victims to contract with them for prepaid fees or payments.
Victims twice .
Attorney Dr. Ahmed Al-Umari explained that this type of crime is not limited to the risk of losing money on fake trading platforms, but extends to what is known as "double fraud", where the victim later becomes a target for companies or individuals claiming the ability to recover money in exchange for prepaid fees or commissions.
He said: "The scammers resort to a range of methods to present the platform with a legal and professional appearance, most notably: claiming unknown foreign licenses or using fake invalid license numbers, creating companies with names similar to well-known and world-class financial firms to impress investors, using electronic contracts and long and complex terms of use to give a compelling legal appearance, Showing commercial registration certificates from poorly regulated countries or outside regions that are not legally regulated and not subject to international law, hiring people who identify themselves as financial advisors or investment analysts, without a license, to create credibility, posting fake profits within the app or platform to convince the victim to inflate additional money, in addition to using celebrities or influencers or paid advertising that suggests credibility or legitimacy".
The trap of recovery .
The architect added: "Companies or offices that declare their ability to recover lost money must be treated with extreme caution, because a large part of them operate according to a new fraudulent pattern called (fake money recovery), where they claim to have relationships with banks, regulators or international financial companies, charge advance fees or expenses for filing a lawsuit, open a file or alleged taxes, and make guaranteed promises to recover the money within days". He pointed out that they use legal names or fake offices or pretend to be lawyers and consultants, claiming to be accredited international law firms to recover money with fake profits.
He continued: "The legal principle that there is no professional legal entity that can guarantee a 100% refund of funds before studying the file and taking effective action, so paying an introductory fee is a high risk indicator, especially if it coincides with requesting the conversion of fees to personal or digital accounts, requiring payment before reviewing documents, promising guaranteed results, refusing to provide a clear contract or license data, or requesting recurring additional fees on the grounds of taxation, exemption or verification".
Fake licenses .
Advocate Hadi Hamad warned that most of these firms or offices that declare their ability to recover lost funds in counterfeit transactions are fake firms, have no legal authority to recover client funds, and any office, law firm or law firm must be licensed in the state by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Justice, stressing that there is no legal status for recovery companies. But the legal way to recover that money is through state-licensed law firms, which take legal action before the police, prosecutors and the judiciary.
The danger indicators .
For his part, Lawyer Salem Saeed Haqi explained that fraudsters rely on multiple means to convince victims of the legitimacy of their activity, including using fake or expired licenses or those attributed to unknown foreign regulators, creating professional websites, infiltrating and exploiting the names of well-known financial firms or international companies, publishing false certificates of success and profits, as well as using influencers and social media to promote platforms. And give it false credibility, contrary to reality.
He stressed that when exposed to financial fraud, it should be directed immediately to the competent official authorities, and not to anonymous entities claiming the recovery of funds for advance fees, noting that the promotion of unlicensed platforms may incur legal liability, when the flag is proven to be illegitimate or negligent in verifying them, and that legal and financial awareness remains the first line of defense, while resorting to official channels remains the safest option to protect the rights and prosecute perpetrators of these crimes.
Suspicious promises .
While Salem lawyer Obaid Al Naqbi cautioned that fraudsters relied on multiple means to mislead victims into the legitimacy of their activity, most notably: claiming licenses from international regulators, with false or misleading testimonials, and registering companies in countries that allow companies to be established easily without real financial control, and exploiting this to make a false legal appearance, Using similar names to well-known financial institutions or websites that mimic the websites of licensed companies, publishing contracts and terms of use written in complex legal formats, to deceive customers about legal protection, and leveraging celebrities or social media influencers to promote the platform and gain false credibility.
Take advantage of the losses.
He stressed that paying an advance fee to recovery companies is an indication of a new fraud, especially if coupled with cutting promises to recover money or requesting the transfer of fees to personal accounts or e-wallets, noting that licensed legal entities usually pay their fees according to clear and specific contracts, and do not offer absolute guarantees about the results, because the recovery of funds is associated with many factors that cannot be determined beforehand.
One last warning .
The lawyers argued that the most important legal message that all members of society should be aware of is that the lack of licensing and transparency is a far more dangerous indicator than the attractiveness of promises of high profits. A project investment is not based on ensuring profits or quick wealth, but on clear disclosure, risk management, and compliance with regulatory frameworks, so any platform counts as exceptional and guaranteed returns without real risks. Indices of suspicion and risk increase more than offer serious investment opportunities, and the victim of financial fraud should never again become a victim, as rushing to unauthorized entities or offices claiming the ability to recover money could lead to additional losses, depletion of the victim's remaining funds, rather than helping him recover his rights through legal and official channels.
Algorithms of deception .
In contrast, cybersecurity expert Sami A Nour explains that AI technologies have played a major role in the development of e-financial fraud, by helping more broadly to reach victims, where the scammer reduces communication, programms, prepares and trains him to respond to people, only intervenes when necessary, and all these technologies are dedicated to marketing and acquiring customers, but these scammers exploit them in illegal transactions.
Sami stressed that scammers are exploiting social media as the broader platform to reach the public, especially since these platforms have developed and enhanced their algorithms by leveraging psychology and social science, enabling them to understand behavior and analyze it, and track its patterns with high accuracy, and since these services are provided free of charge, user data is their actual counterpart, as companies rely on advertising to generate their revenue. Scammers take advantage of this to reach victims, either directly or by impersonating people they trust.
Forging profits .
While faking profits and numbers displayed within fake trading platforms to convince users to expand their investment is technically easy, where these fraudulent companies use training or simulation models, to psychologically manipulate the victim, where these scammers work to display positive numbers, allowing a person to access their money, they come back stronger! And here everything is lost, and fraud on these platforms can be different. Some of them allow you to withdraw money for the purpose of cheating on a larger amount, and some where there's basically no such feature, bank card money is stolen as soon as it's used.
He warned of the reliance of cyber-fraud networks on victim databases traded or sold among criminal gangs, leading many victims to be subjected to double frauds, most notably claiming the ability to recover lost money through fraudulent offices or lawyers, where victims pay extra in hopes of recovering their previous losses. To enhance their credibility, scammers use deepfake techniques to produce footage showing alleged victims asserting the success of recovery operations, and leaked or sold databases contribute to facilitating these crimes, as the victim surprises a caller who possesses his personal information and official data, believing that he is dealing with a credible party, whereas that data may have been obtained by the scammers through leakage or illegal sale.
Source: Emarat Al Youm