Dubai: A businessman has gone on trial accused of forging documents and illegally obtaining cash from customers who were deceived by a fake property development in Dubai, a court heard on Wednesday.
Gulf News learnt that the 30-year-old Afghan developer along with three employees from his company forged documents related to a fake residential project and illegally obtained Dh1.2 million from three customers who paid in advance to buy apartments.
Victims claimed that beautiful saleswomen were used to promote the project and attracted customers by wearing revealing clothes and using a persuasive attitude to convince them to buy property units.
The Dubai Court of First Instance revealed that the developer, his 29-year-old Indian sales executive, a 29-year-old Pakistani sales manager and a 42-year-old Jordanian assistant sales manager published advertisements through property agents and online to lure victims using the name of the developer.
The project wasn’t registered with the Land Department. Three customers reported that they paid in advance to book units in the residential building. The developer advertised the project through online posts.
They showed victims fake e-documents to convince them that the project was real and registered with the Land Department.
Last December, an Emirati official at the Land Department testified that his department had received a number of complaints from customers about a residential building in Al Farjan.
Online fraud
“The developers were selling a fake project,” he said. “The project wasn’t registered with the Land Department. Three customers reported that they paid in advance to book units in the residential building. The developer advertised the project through online posts to sell the units,” he added.
An Egyptian victim testified that he was looking to buy an apartment and saw the advertisement online.
He said that he went to the developer’s location and saw more than 120 salesmen and women in the building.
“They were everywhere in the building hunting customers. Many beautiful saleswomen were promoting the project in an attractive way through their revealing clothes and style of talk. I met the sales manager and his assistant who explained the project and showed me the map and documents. I paid Dh81,200 to book a two bedroom in the project which was supposed to be finished after 18 months,” he said.
The four defendants were charged with forging e-documents, using them to sell units in a fake project and illegally obtaining cash from customers.
The developer and his sales executive denied the charges. The sales manager and his assistant also denied the charges and said they were just following orders from the developer and his sales executive.
The trial is adjourned until July 10.
