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Hunt for woman who cheated job-seekers

DUBAI/UMM AL QUWAIN — The hunt is on for a Sri Lankan woman, Geeta D., who allegedly cheated hundreds of people by charging each of them $3,000 on the pretext of providing employment in the UAE. An Arab man and his Filipina wife, too, are said to be involved in the fraud.

While 60 of them were said to have been sent to some Arab country, the remaining were left stranded in Umm Al Quwain, with no money to buy food or tickets for return flights home.

The Sri Lankan woman's husband is currently lodged in a Dubai prison after being convicted in a similar fraud.

S.A. Zain, Country Coordinator of Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau, in Dubai said that the Sri Lanka consulate in Dubai was aware of the case and travel documents for 19 of the stranded people had been issued so far.

The official said that the consulate would contact the UAE Immigration authorities today to finalise the details of the travel of the workers, whose families had sent ticket money.

According to information available, on her visit to Sri Lanka in April this year, Geeta collected the photocopies of passports and $3,000 from each of the job-seekers. Most of the job-seekers were either from her own village or had come in contact through people known to her.

After getting the photocopies of the job-seekers' passports, she returned to UAE. With the help of her two associates — the Arab man and his Filipina wife — she contacted several travel agents for arranging visit visas for those who had paid her.

Geeta D. allegedly posed as a partner of an investor, who had a number of projects running in the UAE. She submitted all the necessary documents and paid visit visa charges.

On their arrival in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah on May 11, the job-seekers were received by Geeta and taken to a traditional villa in Umm Al Quwain. At the villa, Geeta collected their passports and did not hand over copies of visit visas to the job-seekers.

A few days later, she arranged for 60 of them to travel to an Arab country (name not known), while the remaining stayed on in Umm Al Quwain, but without any resources.

On July 20, the stranded men were arrested by Umm Al Quwain Police for violation of residency laws. However, 10 days later, they were released.

A watchman at the villa helped the stranded people to talk to their families back home, as a result of which a number of them received ticket money from their families. Some of the families also alerted the Sri Lankan consulate in Dubai.

According to Umm Al Quwain Police, the stranded people were released from police custody after the travel companies that arranged the visas for them, cooperated with the police.

He said the Sri Lankan consulate is following up the investigations that are being jointly conducted by Dubai Police and Umm Al Quwain Police.

amira@khaleejtimes.com

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