Al Ain court asks woman to return Dhs49,571 for deceiving a man as fake consumer protection official

Al Ain Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Cases Court ordered a woman to return Dhs49,571 and fined her Dhs1,000 as compensation to a man.

The man allegedly called the Customer Protection saying that he received messages outside working hours. The woman contacted him, claiming to be a Consumer Protection employee, and directed him to take actions within his banking application, thereby seizing amounts from his account.

In detail, the victim filed a lawsuit against the woman, requesting a verdict obliging her to return the stolen amounts from his bank account, totaling Dhs49,571, obliging her to pay him Dhs20,000 as compensation for material and moral damages incurred, and obliging her to pay court fees, expenses, and legal fees.

The appellant said that he had agreed with a contractor to manufacture a table and pay its value in installments through "Tabby" app but the latter did not complete the work within the agreed period.

He added that he noticed deductions were done from his account, so, he searched on "Google" for a consumer protection number and found one which he contacted.

The next day, a woman contacted him, claiming to be a Consumer Protection employee, and asked him to follow certain steps to solve the problem.

She asked him to download an application on his mobile phone, then directed him to take actions within the banking application, until he received a message which he approved and as a result, funds were deducted from his account.

He then realised he had been subjected to fraud, so he informed the bank, and a criminal report was opened, which resulted in the conviction of the defendant. She was consequently ordered to return the seized amounts and fined Dhs1,000.

Investigations also revealed that the fraudulently obtained amounts had been deposited into the woman's account.