Fraudster embezzles Dhs9 million

Ehab Atta, Staff Reporter

DUBAI: An Asian investor, 32, conniving with others, forged documents to seize Dhs9 million from a victim’s account. According to investigations conducted by Dubai Public Prosecution, the defendant, assisted by others who are still at large, forged an establishment card belonging to the Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Minorities Affairs, a trade licence and an authorisation letter of a company. He later presented the documents to apply for an SIM card, claiming that he was acting on behalf of the victim, the original account holder, and requested a Dhs9 million transfer from the victim’s account to another account.

The victim’s brother, who was entitled by his brother to run the account during his absence in the US for medical treatment, discovered the fraud by mere chance. He was surprised when a bank official questioned the transfer of the amount from his acount to another. There were no transactions taking place on the account since 2016.

The victim’s brother told her that neither he nor his brother had any clue of the transfer.

The victim’s brother contacted the telecommunications company, with whom his brother had previously subscribed for bank messages, to discover that the service was cut off when his brother was abroad. Tracking all the transfers, the victim’s brother ascertained that the defendant had seized the amount. The victim’s brother charged a bank official with complicity as the defendant must have received assistance from somebody inside the bank.

In another case, the Dubai Public Prosecution referred a husband and his wife to the Misdemeanours Court on charges of seizing Dhs725,000 fraudulently.

The first suspect reportedly deluded the victim alleging he could arrange him a passport of a GCC country, due to his relations with the government, as he claimed. However, upon receiving the amount in cash and cheques, the suspect fled and it turned out he had already been deported from the UAE.

According to the prosecution’s investigation, the suspect was planning the crime since 2013 when he knew the compatriot victim and told him he could get him a GCC passport, claiming he had a good connect with the government and the ruling family in that GCC country.

The suspect demanded the victim for a payment of Dhs610,000 in cash, besides two cheques of Dhs400,000. The second suspect, the wife encashed the cheques in her favour. After about a year and a half, the first suspect disappeared and it was found he had been deported since 2002.