Abu Dhabi: Fifty-four people have been referred to courts for their involvement in running four bogus investment funds and collecting Dh2.3 billion from customers.
The suspects have been charged with doing fraudulent activities, suspicious money laundering and undertaking economic or commercial activities without a licence.
The suspects charged with fraudulent activities may face a three-year jail term, while those charged with money laundering face up to 10 years in jail.
Abu Dhabi’s Attorney General Ali Mohammad Abdullah Al Beloushi ordered that the 54 men who involved in the car sale fraud be referred to the competent court.
The fraudsters collected more than Dh2.3 billion from investors who were promised a 100 per cent return on their money, before this changed to 70-80 per cent.
This amount was estimated from around 3,700 bank cheques collected by the suspects for one of the four bogus investment portfolios. Investigations by public prosecution show that three people were the masterminds of the gang that was running bogus investment fund disguised as car trading.
The suspects lured customers to buy cars from them and later they would encourage them to sell the cars through them at a higher price, offering them huge returns. They issued post-dated cheques to the investors. People who joined initially got the promised profit, which encouraged others to join the scheme that was marketed for a few years.
Some Dh160 million in cash was seized from the gang members’ homes and 395 cars were impounded from the car showrooms they owned. The value of the seized cars is expected to reach Dh52 million.
The investigations began after police received 1,909 complaints from people who lost their money in the car sale fraud, approached various police stations in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region during the past five days.“
10 months ago, police received a tip-off about the gang from the investors who have been mentioning about the scheme on social media.
