Businessman, friend sued over WiFi services

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

A businessman and a friend who used an elderly man’s Emirates ID to swindle home internet services were hauled into court on Monday.

The Asian businessman, 30, and salesman, 23, used the Emirates ID of a Pakistani truck driver, 63, to subscribe for WiFi services for a flat in Nahdah area rented by the businessman, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

They used the services without clearing bills from Mar.27 until Al Qusais Police Station cops intervened. The bills totalled Dhs1,795. The telecom services provider contacted the driver demanding him to pay.

He lodged a complaint with the police. Investigations revealed the duo was behind the scam. Upon arrest, they confessed and testified against each other. Case continues on October 31.

On the record, the driver said the services provider’s employees contacted asking him to pay the pending Dhs1,795 bill for a WiFi service activated in his name. “I was astonished. I told them I never applied for the service.

“They advised me to file a complaint with the telecommunications regulatory authority. There, I learnt the service was provided to a flat in Nahdah-2 area,” said the driver, adding that he raised the matter before the police.

A police officer said investigations revealed the service procedures were conducted through a trading firm tasked with promoting and selling the telecom provider’s goods and services. It was where the salesman worked.

“We discovered the businessman was the flat’s tenant. We arrested him downstairs. He said the salesman rented a room from him and later offered to obtain WiFi for him through the trading firm where he worked.

“The businessman told him he had unpaid phone bills. The salesman reassured him he would manage the issue. The businessman agreed,” said the officer. The salesman acknowledged the incident.

Before prosecutors, the salesman said that during the e-application procedures the businessman presented an Emirates ID claiming it belonged to his father in whose name he wanted to register the service.

Recently, the Dubai Appeals Court upheld that the  visitor who slayed a countryman during a Dubai brothel brawl must see out his 25-year-jail term.

The Asian defendant, 54, murdered the countryman inside a flat in Naif area on Jun.27 last year. The brothel boss, 41, and his friend, 51, packed the body in a carton with a motive to stash it.