Man in Abu Dhabi falls victim to fake investment advert, loses Dhs16,700

Abdulrahman Saeed, Staff Reporter

The Al Ain Court of First Instance has issued a ruling requiring a man to pay a sum of Dhs16,700 to another individual. It is reported that the latter transferred the sum in question to the defendant for the purpose of investment.

It was said that the plaintiff had observed an advertisement published by the defendant on the Telegram platform, which encouraged investment.

Consequently, following communication with the defendant, the plaintiff transferred the aforementioned amount. However, he was subsequently unable to reach the defendant by any means of communication.

Following an investigation and subsequent research, it was established that the sum in question had been transferred to the defendant's account.

This resulted in the defendant being convicted of the incident in question by a criminal judgment, which subsequently prompted the injured party to file the lawsuit.

In support of the lawsuit, the plaintiff submitted a document, namely a copy of the criminal judgment. The court indicated that a review of the criminal judgment pertaining to the case revealed that the defendant was convicted of the charge of possessing the funds delineated in the report and owned by the plaintiff, which were obtained from a criminal act.

It was asserted that the documentation unequivocally substantiates the defendant's conviction for procuring the plaintiff's financial resources in circumstances that engender the perception that its provenance was illegitimate.

The evidence presented is irrefutable and requires the plaintiff to respond to the defendant's request and to rule on whether the defendant must return the amounts stated in the criminal judgment, which are Dhs16,700, without interest, due to the lack of grounds for its entitlement.