Businessmen jailed for swindling cameras

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A businessman and his compatriot colleague forged paperwork to swindle three cameras. They will serve one year in jail plus deportation.

A Pakistani builder lost his wallet while in Eyal Nasser area. The Asian businessman, 44, and colleague, 45, made use of his Emirates ID data to forge paperwork. The businessman impersonated him.

They forged a passport copy, visa voucher and a security cheque attributed to a general trading company. They showed them to a rental company and obtained the cameras and accessories worth Dhs70,000. The businessman showed the builder’s ID while receiving the cameras. He signed a receipt and a rent document. His colleague abetted this. The Dubai Criminal Court jailed them for one year plus deportation. On the record, the audio visual equipment rental company’s Indian manager said both contacted the company via email and applied to rent the Sony cameras and their accessories for two days at Dhs1,700.

A Filipino driver was sent to deliver them to the location in Nahda-2 area decided by one of the applicants who identified himself with the builder’s names. “I met him. He handed me Dhs1,700 and a security cheque.

“The cheque was already signed. He showed me his ID. I read its data and returned it to him. His appearance differed from the photo on the ID. I asked him about it. He told me he was thin but became fat later.

“I photographed him (as a precautionary measure) and sent his photo to my workplace,” explained the driver, adding, “he signed a receipt and a document containing terms and conditions of renting the cameras.” The manager said the duo did not return the cameras. “They switched their phones off. The cheque bounced because of discrepancies in the signature. We checked on the trading company. It was shut six months ago.”

During an identity parade, the driver identified the businessman, one who posed as an employee from the trading company and showed him a business card. The builder said, “I was a buildings refurbishing company employee. I never worked at the trading company.”

On Tuesday a female sales executive and a male colleague implicated in swindling mobile phones and internet services worth Dhs250,000 were jailed for one year.

The Asian executive, 30, and Arab colleague, 33, were working for a telecom company under an employment services provider tasked with promoting and selling telecom services inside a shopping centre in Bur Dubai.