The DFSA alerts the financial services community and the public to an Advance Fee Scam in which the DFSA is fraudulently impersonated.The scammers contact persons (the Victims) falsely claiming that the Victims are entitled to funds in the estate of a "Capt. Williams Smith", who died without a Will.  The estate allegedly left by Capt. Williams Smith is a term deposit of [sic] "Fifteen Million, Five Hundred and Thousand United States Dollars (US$$18,500,000.00)" with "Bob Financial Services Ltd in Dubai"The scammers communicate with Victims using the name "Mr Razik Alba", who claims to oversee the "Transfers Department" of the "Dubai Financial Authority" at "Doha Street, Dubai".  Mr Razik Alba uses the email address "[email protected]".  He asks the Victims to open a PayPal account in his name, and to purchase a virtual private network (VPN) account for him, so that he can commence paying funds from the estate of Capt. Williams Smith to the Victims.
The DFSA informs you that:

the DFSA is not referred to as the "Dubai Financial Authority", which is a fictitious regulator using a similar name to the DFSA;there is no DFSA employee called "Mr Razik Alba", and "[email protected]" is not a genuine DFSA email address;the DFSA's offices are not located in "Doha Street, Dubai";the DFSA does not use yahoo, gmail, hotmail or any such email addresses;there is no DFSA department called the "Transfers Department";as far as the DFSA is aware, there is no financial institution called "Bob Financial Services Ltd" either in the Dubai International Financial Centre or in Dubai;the DFSA does not deal with funds or assets in the estates of deceased persons; andthe DFSA does not have any role in authorising the transfer of funds.The DFSA strongly advises consumers not to respond to any communication regarding the scam, and under no circumstances should they send any money to any party involved including but not limited to Mr Razik Alba.The DFSA has a page on its website dedicated to Alerts which it has issued about scams. All Alerts issued by the DFSA may be accessed by going to:http://www.dfsa.ae/Alerts/Alerts.aspxThe DFSA has also issued warnings and guidance about the common types of scams perpetrated on consumers. For more information on these scams, please go to:HowToAvoidBeingScammedThe DFSA encourages consumers to refer to the list of regulated firms that is available on DFSA's public register and may be accessed by going to:Public-Register/FirmIf you have any concerns about the authenticity of any correspondence or documents that purport to be issued by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), DFSA or a DFSA regulated firm, you should direct your concerns to the DIFC on Tel: +971 4 362 2222 and to the DFSA via the DFSA Complaints function on www.dfsa.ae.