Fake TV station manager jailed for loan scam

Hamza M. Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A salesman who posed as a television station manager to con a Dubai bank out of a Dhs140,000 loan will spend one year in the dock.

The Asian defendant, 43, committed forgery on the copy of a visa voucher. He noted he was working at a media zone authority as the manager of prominent news channel covering the Middle East and North Africa.

He also counterfeited the copy of a bank statement attributed to a local commercial bank in Abu Dhabi. He presented the forgeries to a commercial bank in Dubai and applied for a credit card, prosecutors told judges.

He convinced the Dubai bank’s management that he was earning a Dhs50,000 salary. Through the fraudulent means he managed to hoodwink the Dubai bank into handing him a credit card with a Dhs140,000 limit.

He withdrew the sum. During Dubai Criminal Court questioning, he denied. However, the court has found him guilty and sent him to serve one year in the dock plus deportation. It ordered the forgeries be confiscated.

On the record, an Egyptian banker said the defendant contacted the bank’s Indian saleswoman in 2017. He told her he got her phone number from one of the bank’s clients. He expressed he wanted a credit card.

She asked for his passport, employment visa, ID and bank account. He arrived at the bank and called her outside. She examined the original documents. He handed her their copies. He signed a credit card application.

She handed him a cheque. He also fixed his signature on it. Days later, he received the card. He withdrew the sum gradually. The bank’s collection section later contacted him to pay obligations incurred on the card. He did not comply.

Officials checked his documents and contacted his supposed workplace. They learnt he was not working there. Also, the bank in Abu Dhabi confirmed the bank statement was fake. The saleswoman recognised him at the Dubai Public Prosecution.