🇦🇪
UAE
#2 MENA target
FRAUD TYPES
Money laundering hub, crypto fraud, real estate fraud, scam compound presence
KEY FACTS
$2.9M average cost per cyber incident. Payment fraud loss $884 per consumer (up 270%). Scam compounds reported in the UAE.
REPORT FRAUD IN UAE3▸
3 agencies you can contact. Tap one for how to reach it and what to have ready.
DPCDubai Police Cybercrime▸
LOCAL / CITY · CYBER / CRYPTO
ADGAbu Dhabi Global Market▸
LOCAL / CITY · FINANCIAL REGULATION
DFSDFSA Dubai Financial Services Authority▸
LOCAL / CITY · FINANCIAL REGULATION
BORN HERE▸
Nobody in our case files was born in UAE yet.
OPERATED HERE6▸
Physically based or working in UAE — lived, ran an office, met victims or was stationed here, per the record. Hacking a target here does not count.
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2012–2013Deals with Aabar/IPIC executives through which, prosecutors say, 1MDB bond money was diverted.SOURCE: DOJ (alleged)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2019–2023Lives in Dubai and runs Binance from there; the DOJ says the exchange failed to run an anti-money-laundering programme in these years.SOURCE: DOJ plea agreement, Nov 2023
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2015–2017OneCoin's Dubai base for events and money; a penthouse and company entities in the emirate.SOURCE: BBC The Missing Cryptoqueen; DOJ
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
Jun 2020–Nov 2022HyperFund run from Dubai: memberships promising 0.5–1% a day from mining that, prosecutors say, did not exist; $1.89B taken in (alleged).SOURCE: DOJ (alleged)
Nov 2024Hands himself in on an Interpol notice; held about 60 days; released; not extradited.SOURCE: BehindMLM
United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
2021–2024Also lives in the UAE, according to the DOJ, while directing the laundering network.SOURCE: DOJ
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
c.2017–2020Runs the business-email-compromise laundering network from a Palazzo Versace apartment; the FBI affidavit ties his phone and email to the accounts.SOURCE: FBI complaint, C.D. Cal. 2:20-cr-00322
Feb 2019Supplies bank accounts to receive ~$14.7M moved from a foreign bank (Forbes links it to Bank of Valletta, Malta).SOURCE: FBI affidavit; Forbes
June 2020Dubai Police raid the apartment in Operation Fox Hunt 2: ~$40M in cash, 13 cars, 21 laptops, 47 phones seized. Flown to the US on 3 July 2020.SOURCE: Dubai Police; DOJ
OUR CASES BY CATEGORY▸
Share of the 6 cases tied to UAE (born or operated here)
FRAUD METHODS TIED HERE11▸
From the Global Fraud Encyclopedia and the cases above. Tap a method for its page.
#1 Pig Butchering (Romance-Investment Scam)used in our cases ▸#4 Ponzi Schemeused in our cases ▸#5 Business Email Compromise (BEC)used in our cases ▸#7 Money LaunderingEncyclopedia · used in our cases ▸#20 Wire Fraudused in our cases ▸#29 Pyramid Scheme / MLM Fraudused in our cases ▸#30 Embezzlementused in our cases ▸#35 Cryptocurrency Ponzi / HYIPused in our cases ▸#38 Real Estate FraudEncyclopedia ▸#44 Bribery / Corruptionused in our cases ▸#83 Shell Company Fraudused in our cases ▸KNOWN FOR▸
THE PICTURE▸
The UAE, and Dubai in particular, is both a base and a refuge for international fraudsters and a laundering route for their proceeds. It was on the FATF grey list from March 2022 to February 2024 (FATF, 2024). Dubai Police's 2020 'Fox Hunt 2' operation arrested Nigerian BEC figures Ramon 'Hushpuppi' Abbas and Olalekan Ponle, both later convicted in the US. The UAE also extradited Sanjay Shah, Denmark's biggest tax fraudster, in 2023, although a Dubai court refused South Africa's request for the Gupta brothers. The UAE FIU estimated domestic fraud losses at AED 1.2bn (~$326M) for 2021–2023 and named vishing, phishing and smishing as the top types (UAE FIU, 2024). In April 2026 a Dubai Police–FBI operation shut nine scam centres and made 276 arrests, many of them trafficked workers (US DOJ, 2026).
TOP FRAUDSTERS FROM HERE5▸
Sanjay Shah CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
~DKK 8–9bn (~$1.2–1.3bn) (tax refunds claimed) · 2012–2015
Dubai-based British hedge-fund founder whose Solo Capital network filed fraudulent cum-ex dividend-tax refund claims in Denmark; extradited from Dubai in 2023.
SOURCE: The National, 12 Dec 2024
Atul Gupta CHARGEDREPORT PENDING
Not quantified in extradition case (Nulane contract fraud charge) · 2010s
Accused in South Africa's state-capture corruption cases; arrested in Dubai in 2022, but a Dubai court refused extradition in 2023.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera, 7 Apr 2023
Rajesh Gupta CHARGEDREPORT PENDING
Not quantified in extradition case · 2010s
Co-accused with his brother Atul in the state-capture cases; UAE extradition refused in 2023.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera, 7 Apr 2023
Ramon Olorunwa Abbas (Hushpuppi) PLEADED GUILTY
Tens of millions of dollars (laundering conspiracies, per DOJ) · 2019–2020
Dubai-based Instagram celebrity who conspired to launder money from BEC and cyber-heists; arrested in Dubai Police's Fox Hunt 2.
SOURCE: US DOJ CDCA, 7 Nov 2022
OPEN REPORT ▸
Olalekan Jacob Ponle PLEADED GUILTYREPORT PENDING
$8M (BEC proceeds) · 2019–2020
'Mr Woodberry', arrested in Dubai with Hushpuppi; ran BEC/phishing that diverted company payments.
SOURCE: The National, 19 Jul 2023
FRAUD BY CATEGORY▸
No official body here publishes a breakdown of fraud by type, so we show none rather than guess.
KEY NUMBERS▸
AED 1.2bn (~$326M) Estimated fraud losses in the UAE, 2021–2023 (UAE FIU Strategic Analysis Report, 2024)
276 Arrests in the Dubai Police–FBI scam-centre takedown (9 centres) (US DOJ, 29 Apr 2026)
Mar 2022–Feb 2024 Period on the FATF grey list (FATF / Norton Rose Fulbright, Feb 2024)
WHO FIGHTS IT▸
Dubai Police (eCrime platform) and the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit (goAML). Landmark operations: Fox Hunt 2 (June 2020) and the joint FBI scam-centre takedown (April 2026).
AML reforms led to FATF grey-list exit in February 2024, but the EU kept the UAE on its high-risk list until at least 2025.
Extradition record is mixed: Sanjay Shah to Denmark (2023), Hushpuppi and Ponle to the US (2020), Gupta request refused (2023).
SOURCES▸
FATF / Norton Rose Fulbright, Feb 2024
UAE FIU Organized Financial Fraud report, 2024
US DOJ, 29 Apr 2026
US DOJ CDCA, 7 Nov 2022
The National, 19 Jul 2023
The National, 12 Dec 2024
Al Jazeera, 7 Apr 2023
Case lists and figures compiled September 2026 from court records, regulators and major press; statuses change. Series reports above are fact-checked case files.