Sharjah: Sharjah Police have arrested two men suspected of running a telemarketing scam, a problem that has plagued the UAE despite aggressive police efforts.
On Saturday, police said the suspects were caught in a police raid on their hideout, where con men were calling people and asking them to transfer money in return for valuable prizes.
The fraudsters would ask for the targeted victims’ bank account details and passwords so they could deposit their “grand prize” amount in the accounts, said Major Saeed Khalfan Al Naqbi, acting director of Khor Fakkan police.
The fraudsters would then manipulate the information to steal the money. The suspects, both Asians, claimed to victims they were calling from a telecommunication service provider.
Police formed a team after receiving a tipoff from one of the victims in Khor Fakkan and tracked down the suspects, arresting two of them and issuing arrest warrants against the others who were based outside the country.
The suspects had rented an apartment in one of the emirates from where they were carrying out their crime. During the raid, police found a large number of SIM cards and mobile phones that were used to commit the crime.
Investigation revealed that the suspects corrupted the SIM cards with which they had called the victims in order to avoid police scrutiny.
The suspects have been referred to the public prosecution.
Sharjah Police urged all community members to cooperate with security agencies and report any suspicious acts or crimes on 999 or 065632222, the toll-free number of Najeed 800151 or via SMS on 7999, or email to tech_crimes@shjpolice.gov.ae.
