Dubai: Two jailed for selling fake currency on social media

The Dubai Criminal Court sentenced two African fraudsters to one-year imprisonment followed by deportation for selling fake currency.

The two accused lured an Arab man after publishing an advertisement on social networking site Instagram stating that they were currency dealers and were willing to exchange dollars at an attractive price.

The victim contacted them in the hope of besting the tempting deal and gave Dh75,000 for $30,000, which is a much lower trading price in the official market. The victim later discovered the currency notes were fake.

During the investigation, the victim told the Public Prosecution that he was browsing through Instagram and saw a picture of dollars with information regarding buying and selling currency. The plaintiff contacted the original poster and asked if he was selling dollars within the UAE.

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The Arab was told that the advertiser resides abroad, but he has friends in the UAE to do the deal. The man sent him two mobile numbers for one of his contacts. He communicated with the contact via WhatsApp, and they agreed to meet in Deira.

The victim added that he met two Africans and agreed to buy $30,000 for Dh75,000. They decided that the money would be sent to him later with the first defendant.

During interrogating, the first arrested accused admitted that he committed the crime with the other accused in exchange for Dh300.

• Dubai