Dubai: Dubai Police have arrested a tourist who booked a luxury hotel suite for Dh130,000, using a fake credit card.
Brigadier Salem Al Rumaithi, Director of the General Department of Criminal and Investigation at Dubai Police, said the hotel alerted the police when they discovered that the European tourist used a fake credit card to book a luxury suite.
“He booked a suite for couple of days for Dh130,000 but only stayed for one night and then left. The hotel filed a case against the tourist when they found out that the credit card was fake,” Brigadier Al Rumaithi said.
He said the tourist managed to con the hotel as it was very difficult the find out whether the card was forged or not.
However, a team of Dubai Police officers tracked and arrested the tourist before he could leave the country.
“The suspect confessed to using a fake credit card to book the hotel suite and he was referred to Dubai public prosecution to complete the investigation,” he added.
Dubai Police urged businesses and public to alert police about such scams so the suspects can be arrested they leave the country.
“We coordinate with the Central Bank to take precautionary measures and to protect the credit cards sector. Checking the card’s holder ID is a must when a transaction is made with a credit card,” Brigadier Al Rumaithi added.
He said that the main challenge in credit cards’ scam is that it is becoming very hard to distinguish between a fake and a real card.
