Two men get 1-year jail term for fraud, forgery in Dubai

Dubai - The duo managed to fool the victim that he had to send the money as 'fees' for paper work and money wiring.

Two men, who defrauded a Filipino resident of Dh33,000 after falsely claiming they worked for a telecom firm and that he won Dh500,000, were sentenced to one year in jail by a Dubai court on fraud and forgery charges. They will be deported after their terms.
The two Pakistanis, aged 32 and 35, managed to fool the victim that he had to send the money as 'fees' for paper work and money wiring.
They made purchase orders online with the ill-gotten money. They got the products they purchased delivered to them by express courier, using an Emirates ID, belonging to a compatriot.
They faked the signature of the original ID's holder on the receipt forms of the courier. The Court of First Instance convicted them of charges of using others' authentic identification document, impersonating a public employee, forgery and use of forged document and fraud.
The case dates back to January 14 and was registered at Bur Dubai police station.
The Filipino victim, 47, said he was at work at a veterinary clinic when he got a phone call. "The caller said that I had won Dh500,000 from my telecom provider. He asked for personal information including my two bank cards details. I found later that Dh33,000 was withdrawn from my account and then realised I had fallen victim to fraudsters." 
The 35-year-old accused confessed during investigation he would defraud people and receive Dh1,000 a day for that from a runaway suspect. He recounted how he would call customers of a phone services firm and falsely claim to them he is an employee of that firm. He would lure them into revealing their bank cards numbers and their PINs.
He alleged he could not recall the name of the victim in this case or how much money he had duped him of. He claimed he had cheated several people in the same method and could not remember this particular one.
His accomplice confessed they would call people randomly and lie to them they were winners of a huge prize. He said he would get the people's bank cards details and withdraw money from their accounts. He would use the money he would get from the victims to shop online and resell the products later.
The two men had a record of several similar criminal cases. The pair may appeal the court ruling within 15 days.
mary@khaleejtimes.com 

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