jinky gutang

My stupid ass ft. scammer dude who took 17K aed from me.

Storytime! Around 4 pm today, I just came back from my house-to-house trip distributing gifts from my company to the patients. Ate my lunch and was just in a purely sleepy, tired, and dehydrated state. I received a call from this number +971563800529, appearing Al Dolphin Al Abyadh Deli, that I won 150,000 aed plus an iPhone from Al Ansari Exchange ongoing raffle draw. Of course, my answer was, “Okay, I don’t believe you”. The caller introduced himself as Ali Muhammad something and sent his employee ID to my WhatsApp and a video of a Filipino nurse winning too. I was just listening to him and trying to let him finish talking, and then he noticed that I didn’t respond and right away changed the topic and started talking about how great the UAE was for supporting this kind of stuff, and I did not even appreciate it by sounding happy and in a way was judging him for not believing! I was trying to explain to him politely why I was the way I was then he started talking about the Ministry of Interior for some sort of verification. Thinking about it now makes me smile because how he dragged my attention into exactly what he wanted me to focus on was evidently his strong point.

He asked me to open my UAE pass for some notification about the winning. Of course, I opened it. Obviously, there was a notification because of some transactions prior. Between those seconds of me looking at which among the notifications I was instructed to look for, he again started talking and kept reminding me to stay in the line because it was recorded and to be published both on tv and radio stations, which by the way he also mentioned the names. Names I wouldn’t recognize because I don’t watch TV here and I don’t listen to the radio. Lol. Then he asked me to take out my Emirates ID and let me double checked it as he read the numbers out loud. Actually, I can’t remember exactly which scenario came first, him confirming my Emirates ID to me or me opening my UAE pass. Probably me opening my UAE pass because how could he have my Emirates ID number and what looked like my visa? He sent a picture with my face on it, the same as on my visa, to my WhatsApp again.

So at this time, this was already around 40 minutes of just him convincing me that he was legit. I have already talked to two different persons and two different “departments”. It was making me believe his orchestrated series of (for me already) complex manoeuvres that seemed legitimate. And I finally forgot to focus on confirming if the winning part was legitimate.

Unto the next scenario, which was me finally letting my guard down. Sounds like a song lyrics but whatever. So we are now in the stage of how he can transfer the money to my account. He asked me what bank I was using and what type of card. This is the part where I just want to skin myself alive for being so stupid and letting this random dude over the f-ng phone outsmart me. Okay, my feelings are getting in the way. Going back – He was asking about the type of cards and bank I am using, and he mentioned the names of banks and cards simultaneously. I might have sounded confused that he then asked me to take a picture of my atm and send it to him via WhatsApp, which I also did. Then he instructed me to wait for notification from ADCB, basically saying that my account was now linked to Smart Dubai Government. Which is what exactly I received, spelt perfectly with a freaking OTP. Yes, I gave him the OTP!!! The realization left me devastated and feeling like a fool. The call ended at exactly 57 minutes.

I’ve talked to the bank and Al Ansari Exchange. I took the necessary steps to minimize further damage and hopefully get my money back. I will file a police complain as well, following the advice of the bank, but I’m a little bit skeptical because it was my fault for giving the OTP. I don’t want to waste the only thing I have now – my time. I need to think about it more.

I regret blocking and reporting his number in WhatsApp because I now can’t see it and am also not able to retract the conversation because I don’t do backups.
He was really good, and his communication skill was impressive. He spoke and understood English well. He must’ve read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People too, and apparently put his learnings to work!

To the scammer guys, if you happen to read this. You guys don’t make your mothers proud unless you were brought up by skilful scammers as well. Tsk tsk tsk.

To you who are reading this, let’s educate ourselves about scams, fraud prevention, and financial literacy. I am vowing never to be a victim again. My story serves as a cautionary tale reminding everyone to be careful and vigilant. Happy Eid Al Adha!