Fake credit cards land 3 behind bars

DUBAI - The Dubai Court of First Instance yesterday sentenced three South Korean nationals to three years in prison each for using fake credit cards to cheat a shopkeeper at a Deira shopping mall.

By A Staff Reporter

Published: Wed 17 Sep 2003, 12:32 PM

Last updated: Wed 1 Apr 2015, 11:49 PM

I. J. C., S. M. L., and J. Y. L. were arrested in mid-February this year for forging government seals and currency and credit cards and using them to deceive and trick others.

Both S. M. L. and J. Y. L entered a shop in Deira in the afternoon of February 13 and wanted to purchase a Dh28,000 watch from the shop keeper K. S. L., a Nepalese national. They asked the shopkeeper if they could pay Dh15,000 out of the value of the watch using a visa card. The defendants showed the shopkeeper a passport with the same name as the credit card and the picture of one of the defendants affixed to it, to prove the credit card was genuine.

The two defendants left the shop after promising to pay remaining money in cash soon. After the two men left the shop, the shopkeeper called the bank which issued the credit card to check and was surprised to find out the credit card was fake. He immediately called the police.

The defendants called the shopkeeper later that day and asked him to come to their apartment in Muteena area with the watch and told him they will reward him with an additional Dh3,000 for his efforts. Police raided the apartment in question and took the two men into custody. Police found several fake credit cards, passports and other documents in the apartment. I. J. C., an accomplice of the defendants and their roommate, was arrested by police a few days later.

The Dubai Appeal Court yesterday upheld a lower court ruling against three Indian nationals convicted on smuggling, possession and using Rs2.6 million in fake currency in denominations of 500 and 100.

A third defendant in the case, H. M. I., a 34-year-old Pakistani national, was cleared on all charges by the appeal court which overturned the lower court ruling that sentenced him to a three-year prison term for smuggling and distribution of fake currency.

The defendants, M. A. R., 37, H. A. M., 29 and K. M. M., 47 were caught in a police sting operation in the parking lot of a Deira shopping mall after they agreed to sell the fake currency to a police informant.