Duo jailed for bid to hoodwink businessman

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two men posed as wealthy investors in a botched attempt to con a businessman out of cash. They were on Thursday jailed for one year and fined Dhs40,000.

The African visitor, 21, and his colleague, 34, had counterfeit US dollar bills to the tune of $120,000. They handed them to the Indian businessman, 32, and claimed they were authentic bills, police records showed.

They told him they had dollars to invest in his contracting company as his partners but the dollars required a chemical erase a black coating from them.

The bid fell flat after police arrested them over another scam.

During police and prosecution questioning, they confessed. The Dubai Criminal Court jailed, fined them and ordered they be deported after serving the punishment. It also ordered the counterfeit dollars be confiscated.

On the record, the businessman was searching for a business partner to boost his company’s profits. An African woman corresponded with him and said she would send her son to the UAE to make arrangements.

She said she and her son could not wire the money by bank for they had problems with the government. Later, someone (the visitor) contacted the businessman that he had arrived in the UAE and wanted to meet him.

They met at a restaurant and discussed business matters. Thereafter, the visitor said he would contact his mother regarding the sum to be invested. Five days later, he said a countryman was on the way with the sum.

During another meeting, the visitor entered the businessman’s car and handed him a bag telling him it contained $500, 000. He left. “Detectives contacted telling me the visitor was a wanted fraudster. They told me to lure him.

“His mother contacted telling me he was sick and wanted money in local currency (since he had only coated dollars). He also contacted me over it. I summoned him to a shopping centre.” An Emirati corporal said, “He came with his colleague.”