Dubai: Man jailed for stealing Dh33,000 in phone scam

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced a 33-year-old Asian man to three months in prison, followed by deportation, for defrauding an Arab man and stealing Dh33,000 from his bank account.

According to the investigation by the Public Prosecution, the accused communicated with the victim by phone and told him he was an employee at a local bank. The defendant told him his card would be deactivated if he didn't update his information.

The man then asked the victim to provide him a code that the bank had sent him via text message. After the victim provided the code, he discovered that the accused had seized Dh33,000.

The victim quickly notified his and the defendant's banks. Both banks coordinated, as a result of which the accused was only able to withdraw Dh15,000. The remaining amount was frozen by his bank.

During the investigation, the defendant confessed to the crime. He also said he had been accused twice before of defrauding two other people in similar incidents.

At the time, he had been sentenced to a year in prison for one of the cases, and served a six-month term for the second. However, he retracted his statements before the court and denied ever having spoken to the victim.

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The court confirmed that the accused used to defraud his victims by scouring the websites of banks and impersonating their employees.

• Dubai