Sharjah: Police have arrested five men suspected of running a telemarketing scam, a problem that has plagued the UAE despite aggressive police efforts.
The suspects, police said on Tuesday, were caught in a police raid on their hideout where scammers were calling people and asking them to transfer money in return for valuable prizes.
The telemarketing fraudsters would ask for the targeted victims’ bank account details and passwords and tell them that they would deposit their grand prize amount in the accounts, said Lieutenant-Colonel Mohammad Al Danhani, head of the Criminal Investigation Department at the Eastern Region Police of Sharjah Police.
The fraudsters would then manipulate the information to steal the money.
The suspects of Pakistani nationality claimed they were calling from telecommunication service provider etisalat.
The department formed a team after receiving a tipoff from one of the victims in Khor Fakkan and tracked down the suspects and arrested them.
The suspects had rented an apartment in Al Baraha area of Dubai from where they were carrying out their crime.
During the raid, police found a large number of SIM cards and mobile phones that were used to commit the crime.
Investigation revealed that the suspects corrupted the SIM cards with which they had called the victims in order to avoid police scrutiny.
The suspects are in custody and have been referred to public prosecution.
Sharjah Police urged all community members to cooperate with security agencies and report any suspicious acts or crimes on 999 or 06-5632222 or the toll-free number Najeed 800 151 or via SMS on 7999 or write to tech_crimes@shjpolice.gov.ae
