Gang in the dock over money-laundering charges

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE Public Prosecution has ordered a gang of nine members to be referred to the court after being found guilty of committing a money-laundering crime using the funds they collected from theft and fraud operations. In a statement issued today (Wednesday), the Public Prosecution said: “Following thorough investigations conducted by the Sharjah Public Prosecution, it was found that a gang of nine suspects are targeting workers.

They used to issue SIM cards under workers’ names, open bank accounts and obtain ATM cards under their names. “The gang was running and managing these accounts through online banking apps available on smartphones and were defrauding victims by calling them, pretending to be bank employees who want to update their data or win a financial prize.

“At that time, they obtain the necessary information to access the victims’ accounts, transfer money to other bank accounts they had opened for this purpose, then withdraw cash and deposit it in other accounts belonging to them to send it later outside the country. Investigations also revealed that they had forged some bank seals as well.”

The Public Prosecution stressed that necessary legal action has been taken against the culprits and were referred to the competent court, urging the public to be cautious and not to cooperate or respond to fraudsters via telephone calls or by any means of communication, and to inform the competent authorities immediately whenever they receive such calls.

The Public Prosecution said it will ask the competent court to apply the maximum penalty against the accused, in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Decree No. 20 of 2018 on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism, which stipulates that a temporary imprisonment and a fine of no less than Dhs300,000 (three hundred thousand dirhams) and no more than Dhs10,000,000 (ten million dirhams) shall be applied on perpetrators of money laundering crimes.