Dubai: How do you differentiate between a real SMS and a scam message? Dubai is helping you find out with its ‘Don’t get Played’ campaign – and you could even win cash prizes as you learn cybersecurity tips and get more savvy on how to deal with scams and attacks online.
Here’s what you need to know.
What is the Don’t Get Played campaign?
Don’t Get Played is a cybersecurity awareness campaign, launched by the Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), the official government department responsible for cybersecurity, information protection, and digital safety in Dubai, on October 1, as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
The campaign aims to help members of the community recognise common scam tactics and warning signs, while encouraging a simple and effective three-step habit before responding to anything suspicious: Pause. Verify. Don’t Get Played.
You can learn all about it, and register for competitions, at dontgetplayed.ae.
How does the campaign work?
At the heart of the campaign is ‘Yado Salama’, a virtual Emirati grandmother, whose sharp instincts make her difficult to fool.
The campaign, which is available on dontgetplayed.ae, introduces a new kind of scammer every week, delving in-depth into the strategies and modes of communication they tend to use, as well as the emotion they prey upon.
Yado Salama helps residents identify the signs of a scam in each case, helping individuals learn the importance of pausing and verifying before taking action.
What is the purpose of the campaign?
According to data from Sumsub, a global digital identity verification and cybersecurity platform, sophisticated, multi-step fraud attempts detected by the platform increased by 180% in 2025 compared with 2024, rising from 10% to 28% of all identity fraud cases detected.
The DESC’s campaign focuses on warning signs that can give a scam away, no matter the type of scam – from impersonation and fraudulent messages to artificial intelligence or AI-manipulated voices, images and documents.
What competitions can I take part in?
The Don’t Get Played campaign currently has four challenges you can take part in, with a single mission: turn cyber awareness into something people want to watch, share and play. You can pick your category and compete for a share of the prize pool, which has a total prize worth of over Dh230,000.
The competition is currently open, and submissions close on October 14, after which, entries will be checked for eligibility and compliance, followed by final jury approval.
Here are the details of all four challenges available:
The Cybersecurity Spotlight Award
Prize structure: First place: Dh45,000. People’s choice: Dh45,000.
Participants: Individual or team (up to three people).
The Brief: Create an original, social-first video that makes one cybersecurity message impossible to ignore. Choose one cybersecurity risk or safe digital behaviour and turn it into content that is clear, engaging and relevant to the public.
Suggested topics: Online scams and phishing, deepfakes and AI impersonation, gaming scams, cyberbullying, etc.
Eligibility criteria:
- Open to UAE content creators only, not open to the general public.
- You can be a content creator, presenter, filmmaker, actor, storyteller or digital creative.
- You must hold a valid UAE Media Council Advertiser Permit.
- UAE residents aged 18 and over.
- Entries must be original and created specifically for the competition.
- One final entry per individual or team.
- No minimum number of followers required.
Submission criteria include:
- One vertical video, 30 to 90 seconds.
- Arabic, English or bilingual.
- 9:16 preferred, suitable for Instagram and TikTok.
- Must communicate one clear cybersecurity message, and state the cybersecurity topic and intended audience.
- Sources required for any statistics or factual claims.
- Any AI-generated or manipulated content must be disclosed.
AI Cyber Creativity Challenge
Prize structure: Best AI video/animation: Dh15,000. Best AI comic/visual story: Dh10,000. People’s choice award: Dh10,000.
Participants: Individual entry only.
The Brief: Use AI creatively to make cybersecurity easier to understand.
Eligibility criteria:
- Open to UAE residents of any age.
- Individual entries only.
- Entrants under 18 need consent from a parent or guardian.
- One entry per person.
Submission criteria include:
- AI video or animation: One 30- to 60-second piece that uses AI meaningfully to communicate a cybersecurity message. It may be an AI-generated story, animation, character-based scenario, experimental film or mixed-media video.
- AI comic or visual story: 6 to 10 connected panels telling a complete cybersecurity story with a beginning, a problem or situation, and a takeaway. No unrelated AI images.
- For both formats: Submit an entry title, a description of no more than 100 words, the intended audience, the AI tools used, and basic contact information.
- Single AI-generated images, standalone posters and unedited AI outputs are not eligible. AI should support the creative idea, not replace it.
- Sources required for any statistics or factual claims. Third-party assets must be original or properly licensed.
University AI Cyber Series
Prize structure: Best AI video/animation: Dh15,000. Best AI comic/visual story: Dh10,000. People’s choice award: Dh10,000.
Participants: UAE university students. Team entry only (two to five people).
The Brief: Create a four-part cybersecurity series using AI. The four videos must form one connected series, not four unrelated clips. The challenge tests your team’s ability to build a campaign concept and use AI meaningfully across a consistent series.
Episode themes: Teams may interpret each of these themes creatively, while maintaining one recognisable series concept:
- Episode 1: Phishing and smishing
- Episode 2: Impersonation
- Episode 3: Scams, fraud and forgery
- Episode 4: Deepfakes and AI manipulation
Eligibility criteria:
- Currently enrolled students at a UAE-based university or college.
- Teams of two to five students.
- Students can come from different disciplines, such as media, design, AI, cybersecurity and engineering.
- One submission per team.
- All four episodes must share a consistent concept, visual identity and/or storytelling approach. Each episode should be able to stand on its own.
Submission criteria include:
- Four connected AI-assisted videos, each 30 to 60 seconds.
- An entry title and a short series description of no more than 100 words.
- State the intended audience.
- Disclose all AI tools used, and briefly explain how AI was used.
- Generative AI should be used meaningfully for one or more elements, such as visuals, animation, characters, editing, etc.
- Sources required for any statistics or factual claims. Third-party assets must be original or properly licensed.
Splunk Boss of the SOC (BOTS) Competition
Prize structure: Dh75,000
Participants: Team entry only (up to four people).
The Brief: Splunk, a Cisco company, along with DESC, is collaborating to bring you the BOTS competition, hosted live and in person at the Kempinski The Boulevard Dubai. BOTS is a blue-team, capture-the-flag style competition. Contestants explore and investigate realistic event data, practice their security skills, and compete against peers for prizes. Players receive a series of questions of varying type and difficulty, with points awarded for accuracy and speed.
The competition is being held over two days, from October 19-20, with the government edition from 7.30am to 3pm, and the private sector edition from 8am to 3pm.
Important details:
- Two-step registration is required to complete in BOTS, and no game-day registration is allowed.
- Registration must be completed 48 hours before each event.
- You must bring a laptop with you to compete.
- Follow the steps in the confirmation email sent after registration.
On October 23, the public can also vote for the People’s Choice Award, where you can pick from six finalists. One public winner will receive Dh10,000. Voting is free and open to all.
