Online scam victim in UAE to receive Dh61,000 after court order

Al Ain: The Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial and Administrative Claims has ordered four defendants to return Dh61,000 to a victim of online fraud, ruling that they had no legitimate claim to the money, which was transferred into their accounts during an electronic scam.

According to court records, the defendants, already convicted in a related criminal case, were found to have accepted the transfers despite not taking part in the original fraud. The plaintiff argued that they had no contractual or financial relationship with him, saying the transactions should have aroused suspicion about the funds’ origin.

The court noted that the defendants were convicted in the presence of one man and in absentia for the others, and that evidence presented included copies of the criminal judgments, bank statements detailing the transfers to each of the defendants and proof that the convictions had not been appealed.

In its judgment, the court affirmed the principle that no one may take another’s property without a legal basis and that if funds are transferred without agreement or statutory cause, they must be returned. “A person’s property does not transfer to another except in two cases: by mutual agreement or under a provision of law,” the court said.

While the court acknowledged that the plaintiff’s own lack of caution contributed to the loss, it concluded that the defendants’ acceptance of the funds caused both financial and psychological harm, including anxiety and fear. The court also awarded Dh4,000 in damages, to be divided equally among the four defendants, and directed each of them to pay an additional Dh1,000 to the plaintiff as compensation.