Where to Report a Scam in the UAE (2026 Guide)

The short answer

The UAE's routes in 2026: in Dubai, report online fraud through the Dubai Police eCrime portal (ecrime.ae — a verified UAE Pass account is required); in Abu Dhabi, use the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service on 800 2626 (or SMS 2828, or the ADPolice app); federally, the UAE Government portal u.ae has a "Report cybercrimes online" page. Call 999 in an emergency. Report scam calls and spam SMS to the regulator, TDRA. Check that any investment or crypto firm is licensed by the Central Bank, the SCA, the DFSA, the FSRA or VARA before paying. Escalate a bank's refusal — free — to Sanadak, the Central Bank's independent ombudsman unit. On refunds: if a payment was unauthorised the Central Bank's consumer-protection framework backs you (and from July 2025 banks must fully refund 3D-Secure SMS-OTP card fraud), but money you were deceived into authorising yourself is generally not refundable, because the UAE has no UK-style mandatory-reimbursement rule.

If you have been scammed in the UAE, two things matter most in the first 24 hours: stopping any further loss and creating a record while the evidence still exists. Everything downstream — which portal, which emirate, which refund argument — depends on getting those two right. The complication is that the UAE has no single place to report and no automatic refund for a transfer you authorised, so the order below is built to be the fastest path through a system with several separate doors.

If you are reading this with a transaction you already regret, skip to if money has already moved. A same-day bank recall is sometimes the only thing that works.

The hard truth first: the UAE increasingly refunds the hack, not the con

This matters most, because it sets your expectations correctly before you spend a week chasing the wrong outcome.

UAE rules draw a sharp line between two kinds of loss. If a payment was unauthorised — someone used your card or got into your account without permission — the Central Bank of the UAE's Consumer Protection framework is on your side, and UAE courts have ordered banks to refund unauthorised transfers. The Central Bank went notably further in 2025: from July 2025, banks must fully reimburse customers for 3D-Secure card fraud that was authenticated by an SMS one-time password — part of a wider regulatory shift away from SMS OTPs as a security method.

But if you authorised the payment yourself because you were deceived — you logged in and sent the transfer because a convincing "bank officer" or "investment adviser" told you to — that is legally a valid instruction, and the mandatory-refund logic does not apply. There is no UAE equivalent of the UK rule that forces banks to reimburse this kind of authorised-push-payment fraud.

The distinction is everything. Britain's Payment Systems Regulator now requires banks to refund deception-based transfers up to £85,000, as we covered in the UK reporting guide. The UAE has no such rule. So in the UAE the realistic recovery levers for a deception transfer are speed (a same-day bank recall), the regulator-backed complaint route via Sanadak for a wrongly-refused unauthorised claim, or a civil claim — not an automatic refund. The 2025 SMS-OTP rule is a real and meaningful step, but it covers a specific kind of card fraud, not the "you sent it yourself" investment and impersonation scams that do the most damage here.

There is no single front door — it is split by emirate

This is the detail that catches people out. The UAE has no single national fraud-reporting portal of the kind the US (IC3) or the UK (Report Fraud) run. The criminal report goes to the police force of the emirate you are in, with a federal layer on top.

—Dubai — the Dubai Police eCrime portal (ecrime.ae). Dubai's dedicated channel for online fraud, hacking, account takeover and identity theft. You need a verified UAE Pass account, and you receive a case number to track progress. This is the report that can open an investigation in Dubai.

—Abu Dhabi — the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service (800 2626). Aman takes security and crime information including a dedicated scam-and-fraud category, by phone (800 2626), SMS (2828), the ADPolice app, or email. It keeps the informant's identity confidential.

—Federal — u.ae 'Report cybercrimes online'. The UAE Government's official portal has a cyber-safety page that points you to the correct reporting channel and to the national cybersecurity council's guidance. Useful if you are unsure which emirate's door to use.

—Emergency — 999. If you are in immediate danger or money is moving right now, call 999. For non-urgent Dubai Police matters the number is 901.

The full UAE reporting directory, by scam type

Different scams route to different specialists. Using the right one matters more than reporting to all of them.

—Any fraud where you lost money. Tell your bank the same hour, then file through your emirate's police channel — the Dubai Police eCrime portal (ecrime.ae) in Dubai, or the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service (800 2626) in Abu Dhabi. The police report is the criminal-side foundation.

—A fake online shop, phishing email, or account takeover. File through eCrime (Dubai) or Aman (Abu Dhabi), and tell your bank if a message impersonated it. Keep the original message — sender number, link, and timestamp.

—Scam calls and spam text messages. Report to the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), and forward a spam SMS to the short reporting code your operator (Etisalat/e& or du) provides, so the number can be blocked.

—Investment, crypto, or fake-broker fraud. Confirm the firm is licensed — by the Central Bank, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), the DFSA (in the DIFC), the FSRA (in ADGM), or VARA for virtual assets in Dubai — and report an unlicensed provider. A regulator cannot recover funds, but flagging it stops the next victim.

—A bank or insurer that mishandled your case. Sanadak, the Central Bank's independent Financial and Insurance Ombudsman Unit, investigates complaints between consumers and licensed financial firms for free, including a refund a bank wrongly refused.

—A scam you spotted but did not fall for. Still report it — to eCrime or Aman, and to TDRA for a scam call or text. No-loss reports still build the picture that targets the operators.

—You need to escalate beyond your bank. Complain to the bank first, in writing, with evidence; if it is unresolved or the answer is unsatisfactory, take it free of charge to Sanadak.

If money has already moved — the first 24 hours

Speed is the whole game, especially in the UAE where there is no automatic refund to fall back on for a transfer you authorised. This is the maximum-recovery order:

1Call your bank's 24/7 fraud line and freeze the card if your card or online banking may be compromised. If the transaction was unauthorised (you did not make it), say clearly you are disputing it, ask the bank to attempt a recall, and get a reference in writing.

2Report the crime through your emirate's channel: the Dubai Police eCrime portal in Dubai (UAE Pass required), or the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service on 800 2626 in Abu Dhabi. In an emergency, 999. Keep the case number.

3Document everything in one place. Screenshot the conversation, the scammer's numbers, emails and fake websites, and the transaction details (date, time, amount, recipient name and IBAN). Save it as a single PDF before the accounts vanish.

4Report a fraudulent call or spam SMS to TDRA and forward it to your operator's reporting code. Tell your bank's fraud team if a message impersonated it.

5If it was investment or crypto fraud, check whether the firm is licensed by the relevant regulator and report it if not. See the honest recovery odds by payment method for what realistically works once money has left.

6Block the scammer everywhere and stop engaging. Any "recovery" offer that follows — a lawyer, an agency, someone claiming to be the police, the Central Bank or your bank — is the second scam. We covered the pattern in the recovery-scams piece.

7If the bank wrongly refuses to refund an unauthorised payment, escalate free of charge to Sanadak, the Central Bank's ombudsman unit. For a deception-based transfer you authorised, a fast recall or a civil claim are the realistic routes.

8Keep every reference number — the eCrime case number, the Aman report, the bank's dispute reference. They are what lets you chase progress weeks later, and what Sanadak or a court will ask for.

Within days of any public post or report about your loss, "recovery scammers" will find you. They will pose as a lawyer, a "fund-recovery" specialist, or even the police, the Central Bank or your bank, and ask for an upfront fee or your banking details. Real UAE channels — your bank, the police, the Central Bank, Sanadak — never charge upfront to recover money, and authorities never cold-call demanding payment. See the recovery-scams piece for the full pattern.

The UAE numbers — and why losses per victim are the world's highest

The UAE is not an average fraud market. A few figures, all from named sources, explain why:

—UAE crypto-scam victims lost almost US$80,000 each on average in H1 2025 — the highest per-victim loss in the world. Chainalysis's 2025 mid-year crypto-crime analysis put the UAE at the top of its per-victim loss ranking — a function of high wealth, high crypto adoption, and sophisticated investment-fraud operators.

—49% of UAE consumers have fallen for a scam, with 15% caught more than once. Visa's 2025 Stay Secure study — and 90% of consumers were judged at risk of responding to a scam message, because most people overlook at least one common warning sign.

—English is the working language — so the whole market is the target. Unlike most non-Anglophone countries, the UAE's expat-majority population transacts in English, which is why the scam scripts arrive in fluent English and why an English-language reporting guide like this one is the relevant one.

—The dominant vector is the pivot to a messaging app. Polished investment ads, 'guaranteed return' crypto platforms, fake-delivery texts impersonating Emirates Post or couriers, and bank-impersonation calls — almost all of them funnel you onto WhatsApp or Telegram, away from any verifiable platform.

The habits that keep you out of the reporting machinery entirely

Reporting is downstream. Prevention is upstream, and three habits stop most UAE scams cold:

—Never move money or share an OTP because of a call or text you did not initiate. Real banks, the real police, and the Central Bank never phone or text to demand an urgent transfer to a 'safe account' or a one-time password to 'secure' your money. Hang up and call the institution back on the number printed on your card or its official site.

—Treat the fake-bank, fake-police and fake-delivery scripts as automatic red flags. A caller claiming to be your bank's fraud team, the Dubai or Abu Dhabi Police, or a courier holding a parcel, pressuring you to pay a fee or hand over a code, is running a known script. The same voice-and-pressure playbook drives the shock-call and family-imposter scams covered in the family-impersonation piece.

—Treat any money conversation that moves onto a messaging app as hostile until verified. Investment 'advisers', recruiters, and romance contacts in the UAE overwhelmingly pivot to WhatsApp or Telegram. The move off a verifiable platform onto a private chat is the single most reliable scam signal — and with per-victim crypto losses the highest in the world, it is the one to take most seriously here.

If you are unsure whether something is a scam before any money moves, the fastest second opinion is the Scam Checker on this site, or our free case review. Both are read by a human and answered within 24 hours.

From the field. The UAE pattern we see most in 2026 is the "guaranteed return" crypto or forex platform that reaches an expat through a polished ad or a friendly stranger, then moves the whole relationship onto WhatsApp — and the fake-courier text claiming a parcel is held pending a small customs fee. But the most damaging cases are still the bank-impersonation call: someone is told their account is compromised and is walked, urgently, into authorising a transfer or sharing an OTP themselves. Because the victim enters the instruction, the bank treats it as authorised — and outside the specific 2025 SMS-OTP card rule, that is precisely the category with no automatic refund. That legal reality is why the prevention rule below matters more than the entire reporting machinery downstream of it.

One rule, end to end

If you take one habit from this piece, take this: any unsolicited call, text, or message that pressures you to move money or share a one-time password is a scam until you have hung up and verified it by contacting the institution on a number you already trust. In a market where the average crypto victim loses tens of thousands and a transfer you authorised has no automatic refund, that one pause is worth more than the entire reporting machinery downstream of it.

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Common questions about reporting a scam in the UAE

Is there one place to report all scams in the UAE?

No — the UAE's reporting map is split by emirate plus a federal layer. In Dubai, report online fraud, hacking and identity theft through the Dubai Police eCrime portal at ecrime.ae (a verified UAE Pass account is required, and you get a case number to track it). In Abu Dhabi, use the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service on 800 2626 (or SMS 2828, or the ADPolice app), which has a dedicated scam-and-fraud category and keeps your identity confidential. Federally, the UAE Government portal u.ae has a 'Report cybercrimes online' page that routes you to the right channel. In an emergency, or while money is still moving, call 999. Tell your bank in the same hour. The practical order: bank first, then the police channel for your emirate, then the specialist body that matches the scam.

Will my UAE bank refund money I lost to a scam?

It depends on one distinction. If the payment was unauthorised — someone used your card or got into your account without your permission — the Central Bank of the UAE's Consumer Protection framework is on your side, and UAE courts have ordered banks to refund unauthorised transfers. The Central Bank went further in 2025: from July 2025, banks must fully reimburse customers for 3D-Secure card fraud that was authenticated by an SMS one-time password, part of a wider move away from SMS OTPs. But if you authorised the payment yourself because you were deceived — you sent the transfer because a convincing 'bank officer' or 'investment adviser' told you to — that counts as a valid instruction, and the UAE has no rule forcing banks to reimburse this kind of authorised-push-payment fraud. So UAE banks increasingly refund the hack, but not the con. Report it fast anyway: speed is what gives a same-day recall any chance.

How do I report a fake online shop, phishing message, or scam call in the UAE?

If money or your card details were involved, tell your bank immediately so it can watch the account and attempt a recall, then file the crime through your emirate's police channel — the Dubai Police eCrime portal (ecrime.ae) in Dubai, or the Abu Dhabi Police Aman service (800 2626) in Abu Dhabi. Scam calls and spam SMS can also be flagged to the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), the federal regulator that works with operators to block fraudulent numbers, and most UAE telecoms let you forward a spam SMS to a short reporting code. If you only spotted a scam without losing anything, reporting it still helps the authorities map the campaign.

How do I check whether an investment or crypto platform is legitimate in the UAE?

Confirm the firm is licensed before you send a dirham. Financial firms are regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), and — inside the financial free zones — the DFSA in the Dubai International Financial Centre and the FSRA in Abu Dhabi Global Market; virtual-asset providers in Dubai are licensed by VARA. If a 'broker' or crypto platform is not authorised by the relevant regulator, that is your answer. This matters acutely in the UAE: Chainalysis found UAE crypto-scam victims lost almost US$80,000 each on average in the first half of 2025 — the highest per-victim loss of any country it measured. The dominant pattern is a polished investment ad or a stranger on a messaging app promising guaranteed returns.

Where can a scam victim escalate or get help in the UAE?

If your bank or an insurer mishandles your case, you can escalate free of charge to Sanadak — the UAE's first independent Financial and Insurance Ombudsman Unit, launched in March 2024 under the Central Bank, which took over the complaint-handling the Central Bank's Consumer Protection Department used to do. Complain to your bank first with evidence; if it is unresolved or the answer is unsatisfactory, take it to Sanadak. None of these channels — your bank, the police, the Central Bank, or Sanadak — will ever charge an upfront fee to 'recover' your money. Anyone who does is running the second scam.

Sources & further reading

Every figure in this piece is drawn from these authorities. Click any of them to verify.

Where to report a scam in the UAE — where victims lose more, per person, than almost anywhere on earth.