UAE resident loses Dh75,000 in exchange for fake dollars in Dubai
Victim was lured by post on Instagram about selling and buying of dollars
Dubai: Two people have been accused of exchanging fake dollars to dupe a Dubai resident out of Dh75,000.
The Dubai Court of First Instance heard this week that two men from Cameroon lured the 65-year-old victim from Syria in a bid to exchange $30,000 with UAE dirhams.
The victim said that he had seen an Instagram post about selling and buying dollars. He contacted the phone number in the post and a person told him that he is outside the UAE but he has friends inside the country to help him exchange the currency.
“He gave the number of someone inside the country who agreed to meet me in Deira. The two suspects came and I met them in a car,” the Syrian man said in official records.
They went to a parking lot and the defendants handed over a plastic bag containing the fake currency. “I gave them Dh75,000 and was trying to check the dollars when they escaped with my money.”
The victim alerted Dubai Police who arrested one of the defendants, while the second is still at large.
Dubai Public Prosecution charged the defendants with circulating fake currency and illegally obtaining Dh75,000.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 17.