Dubai court clears woman in online rent scam, convicts three others
Judges cite insufficient evidence and lack of criminal intent
Dubai: The Dubai Court of Misdemeanours has acquitted a European woman of a fraud linked to a fake online rental advertisement, citing insufficient evidence, while convicting three other defendants involved in the same case.
A complaint was filed by a victim who said that he had been defrauded after responding to a social media advertisement offering an apartment for rent. An agreement was reached to lease the property for two months for a fixed amount, after which the defendants asked him to transfer the funds in instalments to different bank accounts. They also sent documents and a copy of a rental contract via chat messages to make the offer appear legitimate.
According to court records, the victim transferred the agreed sums to two separate accounts. Contact later ceased and it emerged that the apartment did not exist, and the listing was fraudulent, prompting him to file an official report, Al Khaleej Arabic daily reported.
The court reviewed financial tracking records and found that the funds transferred to the first defendant were quickly moved to a second account and later transferred to the account of the European woman who was ultimately acquitted.
In its reasoning, the court said that the offence of obtaining money while knowing its illicit origin does not require proof of participation in the original act of fraud. It is sufficient to show that a defendant received or handled the funds while aware they were unlawfully obtained, and such knowledge may be inferred from the circumstances and evidence of the case.
The judges ruled that the rapid movement of funds between multiple accounts and the absence of legitimate justification for the transactions supported the finding of criminal intent for the convicted defendants.
However, the court distinguished between the positions of the accused and said it was not satisfied that conclusive evidence existed against the acquitted woman. It stressed that criminal convictions must be based on certainty and firm proof, not doubt or probability.
The acquittal was based on the court’s finding that criminal intent had not been established, as it was not proven that the woman knew the money entering her account came from a crime. The court said that the mere receipt of funds, even if later shown to be fraud proceeds, is not by itself sufficient for conviction without proof of certain knowledge at the time of receipt.
