Fake dollars used to buy Apple, Samsung items

Dubai Counterfeit dollars were used to buy Apple and Samsung electronics products, a Dubai court heard on Wednesday.

Records revealed that an Iranian man and three Pakistani men were caught with the fake dollars after the Iranian used some of them to buy electronic items at a shop in Dubai Festival City.

The court heard that on January 29, A.A., a 33-year-old jobless Iranian, tried to use $2,000 (Dh7,340) to purchase electronic goods. Records revealed that the Iranian and the three other suspects obtained the fake banknotes and used them to purchase a Samsung Galaxy notebook and an Apple iPod.

Prosecutors told the judge that the accused knowingly possessed counterfeit currency and tried to use it before they got busted following a police complaint lodged by an electronics sales lady.

One of the witnesses, M.D., a 28-year-old sales attendant, told the court: “When A.A. walked into our shop in Dubai Festival City, he asked if we had an iPhone 4. I told him we did not have it. However, we had Samsung Galaxy notebooks. He then asked if we had iPods as well,” said.

The sales lady did not know that the suspect used fake money.

When her supervisor came at the end of the day, M.D. handed him the dollars so he could exchange them for dirhams. That’s when the supervisor realised that the banknotes were fake and reported the matter to police.

Police investigations later led them to A.A.’s accomplices: M.R., a 35-year-old driver, R.G. a 28-year-old driver and M.O., 27.

It was not immediately clear how the fake dollars were obtained by the suspects. The next hearing is on September 23.