Villa in UAE rented out to five people at the same time

Dubai - The suspects would dress up in traditional GCC clothes to give the impression that they were the owners.

The Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal heard a case where four Arab nationals rented out the same villa to five different people at the same time.

They are currently being charged with real estate fraud and embezzlement, and misleading the public through false advertising, reported Al Bayan.

The defendants used to wear the ethnic GCC national dress in order to give the victims the impression that they are owners of the property.

One of the victims testified, "I saw an advertisement for a property for sale in a newspaper."

He met the man who introduced himself as M but it turned out later that the person's name was actually B.

The second defendant had disguised himself as a GCC national by wearing the national dress, and he introduced himself as the agent of the property owner.

The victim said that he paid the second defendant Dh7,000 as commission for the property.

He said that he had negotiated with the broker a deal wherein he would pay Dh180,000 for the property over three instalments.

• Abu Dhabi