Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Police arrested a gang of 10 Asians for conning people out of money while pretending to be representatives of a telecommunications company on behalf of which they were handing out cash prizes to winning mobile phone numbers.
The gang members would tell unsuspecting victims that their mobile numbers had been selected for prizes under promotional campaigns of the telecom service provider before extracting money using various tactics.
Brigadier Rashid Mubarak Al Mesmari, Director of External Regions’ police at the Abu Dhabi Police, said that the fraudsters would tell people that their mobile numbers had been randomly selected in a prize draw by the service provider. In return, they would ask people to transfer a certain amount through money exchanges to their accounts or send credit to their mobile phones so that they could claim the prize money.
He said Al Rahba police station received complaints from people who had become victims of phone fraud following which a police team began tracking their movements and ultimately arrested them.
The police also recovered forged documents from the gang’s possession, besides devices and tools they used to carry out their con schemes. The police also seized mobile phones and Sim cards.
Abu Dhabi Police urged mobile phone users to report any suspicious activity promptly to them, especially calls from persons touting promotional cash prizes and urged the public to be wary of such mobile fraudsters.
