Pensioner arrested over fraud in Kuwait

Cairo: Kuwaiti police have arrested a pensioner accused of defrauding several people of money after he duped themselves into believing he has strong connections.

The suspect was arrested inside a resthouse in the Kabd area near Kuwait’s Capital Governorate after he had deliberately altered his facial features by growing a beard and wearing glasses, Al Anba newspaper reported.

The case surfaced after several Kuwaiti citizens had filed reports to police, claiming they had met a man in his fifties, who had tricked them into believing he could finalise complicated transactions for them due to his purported connections, the report quoted a security source as saying.

The claimants said the suspect accompanied them to a government institution where he shook hands with the employees in a sign of familiarity.

Having allegedly fleeced them of a total of KD90,000 (about $293,215), the complainants added that the suspect had later eluded fulfilling his commitments and eventually turned off his phone.

During interrogation, the suspect admitted to having been used to fraud and would take his victims to his former workplace, the source added.

After deceiving the victims with his connections, he would ask them to rest before he entered the offices of the officials. He would later inform the victims that their affairs would be seen to and receive sums of money from them in exchange for allegedly completing their transactions.