Worker poses as soldier in theft

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A telecom company’s customer service employee misused a soldier’s documents to swindle Dhs7,000 telecom services. He will spend six months behind bars.

The Arab defendant, 41, forged a telecom service purchase order for a 32GB iPhone-7Plus with a monthly billing plan SIM card. He filled in wrong data in the e-system, showing necessary procedures were taken.  He misused the Emirates ID of the Emirati warrant officer, 32, faked his signature on the e-purchase order document, stored the bogus document in the system and swindled the iPhone and SIM card in Oct.2016.

Prosecutors sued and accused him of forgery, identity fraud, use of forged documents and abusing duties to swindle the iPhone (by then worth Dhs3,400) and the SIM card which incurred a Dhs3,732 bill.

He sold the mobile phone to a mobiles shop in Sharjah. It was then sold from person to person until police seized it with an unsuspecting Pakistani man. The officer had already paid Dhs3,116 to the telecom company.

He complained to police. The defendant contacted him apologising and offering to refund in case he waived the complaint. The officer refused. The Criminal Court has caged him for six months plus deportation. The defendant confessed before police and prosecutors that the victim came to his workplace to obtain a phone with postpaid calls and internet. He misused copies on his documents to buy an iPhone and SIM card.

The officer said he visited the defendant’s workplace at a branch in Dubai and applied to change his package from that of ordinary people to that of soldiers. The defendant asked for his ID and employment card.

“There was a photocopier in his office but he walked out to another in an adjacent room. He returned and handed me my cards. A month later, I noticed that the monthly bill had increased abnormally,” he complained.

“It was supposed to be Dhs250 monthly. I contacted the company and complained. I was told there was nothing wrong with the transaction and that the bill was authentic. The bill increased over the next six months.”

He went to another branch inside a mall and learnt there was a phone number registered in his name. An official sent him to the former branch where he learnt the number was bought with his authentic documents.

In 2017 the company notified him that an iPhone-7Plus was issued to him with a SIM card and that the bills he was paying were worth call charges related with the iPhone. He complained to the Bur Dubai Police Station.