Personal loan scamsters hit 3 banks for Dh500k

A major personal loan scam involving three Asians – at least one of them Indian – has been unearthed by the Dubai Police.

The accused are said to have used forged documents to get loans from three banks totaling Dh500,000. The three would have perhaps escaped with their fraud if they had stopped there.

Instead they went after a fourth bank and it was here that suspicions were raised leading to the arrest of two of them.

Brigadier Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Director of Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department, said, “The suspects provided banks with forged passport copies, bank account statements, certificates of employment and other documents required to process loans, and were in the process of applying for more loans when they were caught.”

One was staying in the UAE illegally after his visit visa expired.

Another suspect had piled up huge loans and was trying to leave the country.

"He first took loans and left for India in 2009 immediately after getting the money and before any foul play was suspected or reported. He returned in 2011 with a different name and identity," Brigadier Al Mansouri said of one of the suspects.

Since the suspect was not reported until after he left the country the first time, no iris scan was done and it had been easy for him to get a visa under a new identity, he added.

Police are still investigating the fraudulent transactions, which took place in December and January, and possible accomplices who may have helped the two arrested suspects get their forged documents such as bank statements, and other bank employees who may have collaborated with them by authenticating documents.