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28 March 2024

Businessman saved from money-cloning swindler

Published
By Staff

An Indian businessman in Dubai could have lost all his wealth when he agreed to turn almost all his assets into cash to pay an African swindler $two million after he was told the sum would be multiplied into $20 million. The operation was ditched in the last moment when police seized that swindler by accident.

Police searching for two African men who cheated another Indian dealer in Nayef market stumbled across that swindler by mistake after they got the wrong information about the location of those two.

They were about to apologize to the man and leave when they noticed he was confused and there were suspected items in his apartment.

“It was a surprise for our men as they found out that the man is not the wanted one…but there was another surprise as they found 13 big bags containing various currencies,” said Brigadier Khalil Al Mansoori, director of the Department of Detectives and Criminal Investigation in Dubai.

Quoted by Emirat Alyoum Arabic language daily, he said police men also found chemicals and white paper used in money multiplying operations, more than 1,000 contraceptive pills, two fake passports and other suspected items.

Mansoori said the African man first told police that the bags belonged to some one else but that later he confessed to investigators that he was preparing for an operation with an Indian businessman in Nayef area.

“We seized nearly $three million, around three million euros and Dh1.5 million in his bags…they were all fake….he told police that he had succeeded in persuading the Indian businessman to give him $two million to he cam multiply it to $20 million…we also found that this man had entered the UAE more than two years ago on a visit visa and is still staying illegally,” he said.

Mansoori said police summoned that businessman, who said he was about to finish the deal with the African within hours.

“He was about to put all his wealth in the hands of that African impostor…he had even borrowed money to complete the requested sum,” Mansoori said.

“We asked the businessman whether he had any suspicions about the African, he replied that he believed him and was happy to have that deal….we told him such a deal could have cost him all his wealth and destroyed his life.”

Mansoori said police found only around Dh490 real money with the African swindler, adding that this shows his inability to multiply money.

“Even his appearance does not reflect any wealth….we wonder why that Indian businessman did not ask ‘why doesn’t this impostor multiply money for himself instead of the others.”