Beware of tricksters selling fake phones

Dubai/Sharjah: A Dubai Municipality official from the Markets Inspection Department is warning people not to fall victim to thieves who are offering cheap phones for sale on the street and making off with money from unsuspecting victims.

The official said the Municipality has received several complaints and staff are now monitoring the streets closely.

Generally, during holiday periods, thieves are preying on the good will of others who want to help someone in need.

They roam the crowded squares of Rolla in Sharjah to the busy corners of Bur Dubai or Sabkha.

Prowling the streets and looking for gullible prey, shady mobile sellers are growing in numbers across the twin cities of Dubai and Sharjah conducting bait-and-switch on unsuspecting victims.

They have been visible on the streets of Dubai and Sharjah for some time now, and increasingly are hunting unsuspecting victims in packs.

From the latest iPhones to Samsung Galaxy S3 or Nokia smart phones, there is variety on offer for cheap on the streets of Deira, Bur Dubai, Rolla or Karama, except that the devices are invariably fake or ‘stolen’ originals. When money changes hands, the thieves make off with the cash leaving the victim with a worthless fake.

Con artists are luring people through half-price offers that are too good to resist.

“I have come across several of these individuals who come up and offer their mobile handsets for sale claiming them to be original. They offer either iPhone or Samsung Galaxy S3 for half the market price and if you are not aware of the scam you most often fall for it because they tell stories of their need for money and people more often than not get moved,” said a Deira resident.

The tricksters resort to various means to go around their business. Among the tricks and tactics used by these scammers are showing the original devices initially and then quickly swapping the device with the fake replica. They also directly sell high-quality fake replicas as the originals, while some of them do actually sell the original but stolen devices.

“The other day I was driving on Bank Street and I stopped my car when the traffic light turned red. A man came up and knocked on my car window. When I pulled the window down he offered me an iPhone 4 mobile for sale. Since I’m familiar with tech stuff, I wanted to check the phone’s unique identification number, he refused and ran away, that’s when I realised that he was trying to cheat me,” said Ahmad Mirza, an IT engineer.

Mirza said since then he has seen several people involved in such activities on the street and has even complained to the authorities.