UAE is a nation full of expats. So many people come in to Dubai and to other parts of the UAE for work; many of them not highly educated and rather naïve when it comes to defending themselves against scams and crooks. Because of this, there are always new and innovative scams that come up, duping innocent people and getting them to part with their hard earned money.
Dedasish Debmath, Ajith Runjan Majumdar and Abhijith Majumdar were recently duped by so called recruitment agents. They were promised jobs and brought to the UAE under these false pretexts. They were brought to the UAE on a visitor's visa (not work permit). They were promised jobs that would earn them Dh1,500, however, there was no job. The three men, who had sold off valuables and borrowed heavily to get to the UAE were made to work without money for a month, then left homeless in Abu Dhabi.
The story of people being fooled into parting with their meager possessions in the hope of a better future in the Gulf is not a new one. Just last year, three men were caught in Mumbai for running just such a fake recruitment racket. They had swindled 91 people and had taken Rs 32 lakhs on these false pretexts. Job applicants were charged up to Rs 50,000 for the ‘application process’. After this, the passports were collected and fake work agreements and forged work visas would be issued.
Expats returning to the UAE after a holiday are sometimes subjected to another unique moneymaking scheme by scamsters, who pretend to be immigration officers; using caller ID spoofing. The returning expat is told about some nonexistent crime or infringement for which they have to pay a ‘fine or penalty’ of up to three thousand dirhams or face deportment. The scared expat would pay up only to find that they had been scammed.
Young professionals hoping for a job in the UAE are also duped into paying to get their CVs to the people looking to hire. In exchange for Dh500, they would be promised that their CV would reach big companies looking to hire people with their skill sets. Instead, these CVs end up in the spam folders of individuals who never even glance at them.
A gang of 19 people of Asian origin were recently arrested for a phone prize scam. They would call people and tell them they had won a cash prize and get them to part with details about their bank account and other sensitive personal information, which they would then misuse.
In a similar scam, scamsters would call up unsuspecting people and offer them large, cheap loans in exchange for a ‘small fee’. A fake loan agreement with the DIFC’s logo and name of the DIFC governor would be produced for authenticity. Then handling fees and refundable expenses would be demanded. Expats and others in UAE are warned about steering clear of dubious agents and about being vigilant to remain safe from scams.
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