Dubai police nab mobile phone 'prizes offer' gang

Dubai police seized four men involved in swindling money from a large number of people by asking them to send them call credit for promised prizes from Etisalat and Du, press reports said on Thursday.

It was the latest in a series of fraud operations involving presumed telecom prizes in the UAE and police said the victims of these swindlers are partly to blame for this crime due to their greediness.

After receiving complaints from many mobile phone users, electronics experts at the Dubai department of criminal investigation succeeded in locating four men sending texts to mobile phone users asking them to transfer call credit to them and wait for the promised prize from the UAE’s two telecom providers. Once they receive the credit, they sell it for a lower price.

Two of those seized at an apartment in Naif street had come to the UAE on tourism visa while the other two are illegal migrants.

“We are still questioning the defendants to determine the number of their victims,” said Major Saeed Al Hajri, director of the electronics investigation division at the Department.

“We found that they had resorted to the same fraud method by telling their victims they have won prizes and identifying the number on the back of their SIM card although this number is the same on all SIM cards….I believe the victims shoulder part of the responsibility because such types of crime can entice only greedy people…it does not make sense that big companies distribute prizes without prior announcement," he told the Arabic language daily Emirat Alyoum.

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