Agents offering Indian workers in the United Arab Emirates help with visa and document paperwork are collecting their face, eye and fingerprint scans, then using them to open bank accounts and take out loans. The warning comes from the Consulate General of India in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
The consulate has received reports of Indian nationals, blue-collar workers in particular, being approached by individuals and agents who offer assistance with visa regularisation, emergency certificates, exit permits and outpasses, Emirates ID matters and employment-related services. The approach is pitched as help with official procedures that the worker would otherwise have to complete themselves.
Those agents ask for a passport and Emirates ID along with biometric data, taking face, eye and fingerprint scans while claiming to be completing official procedures on the person’s behalf.
The consulate warned the captured information may then be used to carry out financial transactions, open bank accounts, or obtain loans and credit cards in the victim’s name without their knowledge or consent.
The consequences fall on the person whose biometrics were taken. The advisory says victims could be held responsible for financial dues or transactions they never authorised, exposing them to fines, travel bans and in some cases imprisonment.
The consulate set out a rule for distinguishing legitimate consular work from the scam. Neither it nor the Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi requires fingerprint, face or eye scans to issue a passport or an emergency certificate. “Any individual or agent demanding such biometric data in the name of the Embassy is engaging in fraud and should not be entertained,” the advisory said.
Nationals were urged to exercise caution and to strictly avoid sharing passports, Emirates ID details, biometric information or personal and financial credentials with unauthorised individuals or agencies. Anyone approached by an agent demanding biometric data or an Emirates ID was directed to the Pravasi Bharatiya Sahayta Kendra for verification and assistance.
The biometrics in these cases are genuine and handed over willingly, collected under a false account of what they will be used for.
Where biometric scans genuinely are required, for services such as exit permits, outpasses, Emirates IDs or visa regularisation, the advisory said they should be provided only at official UAE government facilities and counters.
Similar concerns about who is authorised to capture biometric data have surfaced elsewhere in the region, including an Egyptian parliamentary push for safeguards on facial verification in SIM registration.
Sources: Gulf News, Khaleej Times
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By Ali Nassar-Smith
