Net spread wide for Dubai rent fraudster

Dubai: Dubai Police have forged a special task force to hunt down a man alleged to have fled with more than Dh1 million in rent monies from duped tenants, a senior police official confirmed on Friday.

A team of forensic investigators are now in the process of preparing an international warrant for a man identified as H.M.K, CEO of Shamyana Entertainment events company in Dubai, who has not been seen or heard from since cashing an untold number of annual rent cheques from unsuspecting residents in Old Town Dubai and The Greens.

Tenants have filed complaints with police in Jebel Ali that the man subletted flats that he did not own and, after being handed rent cheques ranging from Dh60,000 to Dh110,000, he had vanished.

“We have formed a special team to investigate his identity,” the police official told Gulf News yesterday. “He is carrying a Saudi passport.”

The official did not elaborate on reports that the man was a Syrian national who also has Saudi citizenship.

“We are now working with public prosecutors and Interpol to arrest the accused,” the official said. “Anyone who has fallen victim should file a case against him. We believe there are people who have not reported yet.”

The police official dismissed estimates that hundreds of tenants have been affected and that the suspect had fled with a figure that is close to Dh8 million. “That is an exaggerated number, it’s more like Dh1 million,” he said during the initial stages of investigation.

Efforts by Gulf News to check the background of the suspect revealed that the man has closed his Facebook account but has left his Linked In account active. In his Linked In biography, he claims that he formerly worked as a marketing manager for a UAE advertising firm from 2006 to 2009 before moving into his CEO position at Shamyana.

The man also stated on his Linked In landing page that he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Aviation/Airway Management and Operations from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida in 2000.