Three incarcerated in $27 million prize scam

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Facebook fraudsters who duped a gullible man into paying $123,200 and travel from Iraq to the UAE to claim his ‘$27 million prize’ were incarcerated on Tuesday.

The African defendant, 41, flatmate, 50, and countryman, 44, conned the Iraqi victim out of $123,200 (Dhs452,500) worth clearance fees for the $27m (Dhs99,157,500) prize he allegedly won from a local Islamic bank.

They and their fugitive cohorts forged $2m (Dhs7,345,000) and Euro20,000 (Dhs82,300). They denied the charges in court. The Criminal Court jailed each one for one year plus deportation and a Dhs200,000 fine.

The victim was in Iraq at the beginning of February when a man (identified as P) on Facebook told him he won $27m from the bank. “He asked me for my passport copy to finalise procedures for wiring the prize to me.

“I paid him $21,000 for a lawyer who would follow-up. He later told me the bank wanted $42,000 to endorse the prize. I sent it to a man’s address. He told me to deposit $50,000 in the account of another.

“He summoned me to Dubai to claim the prize. I rented at a hotel in Deira. A man identified as F met me and asked me for $4,000 to transfer the prize from the bank to a security company that would deliver it to me.

“The next day he returned with another man identified as D (the countryman in disguise). They took me inside their car and showed me a box full of $100 bundles. Each bundle had a stamp reading in Arabic.

“F pulled out a bill and poured a liquid on it. He told me to go to a money shop and confirm the bill was authentic. He told me all the bills required a chemical to remove stamps. I paid him $6,200 for purchasing it.

“He and D went their way. The next day F contacted saying the money was not enough for the chemical. He asked for $160,000. I realised I had fallen victim to a scam.” The victim sought Dubai Police intervention.

Police organised a trap and apprehended the defendant after he arrived to collect the money. They then nabbed his flatmate, checked his mobile phone and landed on a video showing many suspicious dollar bills.

Dubai and Sharjah Police combed their flat in Sharjah and seized five suitcases containing fake dollars and euros. The defendant said he accepted to join the scam after the flatmate promised to find him a job.

Recently, a realty company official who forged documents to swindle Dhs501,553 electronic devices from a supplier lost the case at the Dubai Appeals Court.