Gang steals Dh2.8m through phone fraud in UAE, arrested

The Ajman Police have arrested a gang of three Asians, including a woman, for allegedly stealing more than Dh2.8 million from people’s bank accounts through phone fraud.

According to the police, the suspects duped bank customers by calling them to update their account information.

Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed Saeed Al Nuaimi, Director of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Ajman Police, said the police started investigation after receiving a complaint from a woman, who said she had been duped by some fraudsters. She lost Dh10,000 after providing her bank details to the unknown caller, who claimed that he is a bank executive. The caller asked her to update her bank details over phone and collected her account information. After some time, the woman discovered that she had lost Dh10,000 from her account.

The police managed to identify and locate the gang members in one of the residential towers in Al Nuaimiya area in Ajman.

The officers raided the apartment and arrested two men and a woman. The police also seized 21 mobile phones, tablets and laptops, in addition to bank cards in others’ names which were used in the fraud. A part of the money was recovered from the apartment in addition to some gold jewellery, the police added.

According to Lt-Col Al Nuaimi, the suspects confessed to defrauding a number of people, by collecting their bank details and stealing money from their accounts. The investigation also revealed that they were also involved in other cases of phone fraud.

He warned the public not to fall victims to such frauds and urged them to report any suspected calls to the police without delay.

afkarali@khaleejtimes.com