The worst time to work out how UAE scam reporting works is five minutes after money has left your account.
There is no single universal “report scam” button for every case. The right first move depends on what was compromised: money, a bank account, a phone number, an online account or your identity.
The order matters.
If money moved, contact the bank first
If a card transfer, bank transfer or wallet transaction has already happened, your financial institution should be the first call.
The objective is not paperwork. It is speed: freeze the card or account where necessary, flag the transaction, stop further access and ask whether the payment can still be blocked, recalled or traced.
Do not wait to finish a police report before contacting the bank.
CBUAE rules require licensed financial institutions to maintain fraud-prevention and detection controls covering unauthorized transactions, social engineering and identity theft.
Then report the crime to police
The UAE Government directs victims of general fraud, scams and cybercrime to local police channels.
In Dubai, cyber-enabled financial crimes and scams can be reported through Dubai Police eCrime. In Abu Dhabi, residents can use Abu Dhabi Police channels including Aman for reporting suspicious activity and fraud-related information.
Keep screenshots, phone numbers, payment receipts, transaction references, usernames, URLs and chat history. Do not delete the conversation just because the scammer has been blocked.
Sanadak is for complaints against a licensed financial institution
Sanadak serves a different role.
If your complaint is about how a CBUAE-licensed financial institution or insurer handled your case, CBUAE directs consumers to Sanadak.
That means Sanadak is not a replacement for reporting the criminal scam itself to police. It becomes relevant when the dispute is with the financial institution’s handling, response or consumer-protection obligations.
If the scammer impersonated the Central Bank
CBUAE has a dedicated fraud-reporting form for misuse of its name, logo, employees or fake communications pretending to come from the Central Bank.
CBUAE also tells victims to consider reporting fraud to local law enforcement.
This is a good example of why scam reporting is layered: one incident can justify a bank report, a police report and a regulator-specific report at the same time.
If you clicked but no money moved
The priority shifts from recovery to containment.
- Change compromised passwords from a clean device.
- Remove unknown remote-access or device-management software.
- Contact the bank if banking credentials or card details were exposed.
- Contact your telecom provider if the scam involved your SIM, OTPs or suspected account takeover.
- Report the scam account, website or profile to the platform where it appeared.
Our 2026 UAE scam-pattern analysis shows why this matters: many current scams are designed to take control of the verification channel, not just steal one password.
Do not search Google for the complaint number while panicking
That sounds obvious until you remember that scammers also build fake help pages.
Robius has previously documented scams that target people while they are trying to verify or report another scam. The safe habit is to open an official government, bank or police app yourself rather than trusting the first sponsored or forwarded link you see.
The same rule applies to fake traffic fines. Our traffic-fine scam guide recommends checking through the official service rather than the message link.
A practical order for the first 30 minutes
- Stop the money: call the bank or payment provider.
- Secure access: change passwords, lock cards and remove remote access.
- Preserve evidence: screenshots, transaction IDs, numbers, emails and URLs.
- Report to police: use the official cybercrime or local police channel.
- Escalate where relevant: Sanadak, CBUAE impersonation reporting, telecom or platform reporting.
The Robius Read
UAE scam reporting is not one door because different institutions solve different parts of the problem.
Your bank can try to stop the money. Police investigate the crime. Sanadak handles complaints involving licensed financial institutions. Regulators and platforms can act on impersonation, accounts and sector-specific abuse.
The mistake is spending the first hour looking for the perfect complaint form while the scammer is still moving.
Sources
- UAE Government — reporting economic crimes and scams
- CBUAE — fraudulent reporting
- CBUAE — complaints and Sanadak direction
- CBUAE Rulebook — fraud prevention
Checked 29 September 2026. Reporting channels and complaint procedures can change. In an active financial fraud case, contact the relevant bank or payment provider immediately.
Robius.news — Dubai, UAE — 2026 | Built to be first. Built to be trusted.
