Man duped 6 times by fake cash prize gang

A Gulf Arab man who was told by a presumed beverage company in Dubai that he had won $1 million paid nearly Dh850,000 in fees to receive the sum before he realized he was a victim of a major embezzlement operation.

The unnamed man, who was deceived six times in less than five months, had not known that the man who had contacted him many times was a Nigerian impostor before the thief and his accomplices were arrested by Dubai police and made to pay back all the funds they had extorted from him.

“He was deceived six times in less than five months by a Nigerian man and his female partner,” said Lt Colonel Salah bu Osaibi, head of the Economic Crimes Department.

“They made him pay a total Dh850,000 after telling him that he had won $1 million from a well-known soft drinks company in Dubai. Greediness sometimes blinds people.”

He said the man was in his home country last September when he was phoned by a man calling himself Frank saying that he had won the company’s annual prize.

He told him that he has to pay Dh50,000 for a clearance certificate and asked him to remit the sum to a bank account in some names, which he did.

In November, he was called again by another person and asked to pay Dh117,000 for the issuance of a certificate clearing him from money laundering charges, which he did.

In December, the man was phoned by another person and told that his prize was deposited in a Dutch bank but that he needs to pay Dh166,000 in tax, which he did.

In January, he was again told to pay the same sum as a fee for the beverage company’s lawyer, which he again did.

“The gang found this man an easy victim so they continued to deceive him and again called him and asked him to pay Dh117,000 as a remittance and tax fee, which he surprisingly did,” Osaibi said.

“But they did not stop at that. They again asked him to pay Dh244,000 and to head for the UAE to meet the company agent and the woman in charge of the prize. When he arrived here, a woman called him and asked him to pay Dh166,000 before he is awarded the prize. Only then, he realised he was a victim of a deception and embezzlement operation and decided to come to the police.”

Osaibi said police asked the man to go ahead with the plan and meet the couple in Dubai to pay them the last sum. “They agreed to meet at a hotel in Abu Hail area. When they arrived, police were waiting for them. They were made to write a letter pledging to return all the funds they had extorted from him.”

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