Gang dupes treasure-seeking family of Dh1.5M, one arrested

dubai — The Dubai Police have arrested an African national for fraud and embezzlement of Dh1.5 million from a GCC family.

According to the police, the suspect convinced the family that there was a treasure hiding beneath their home in the neighbouring country. He told them the treasure “guarded by a jinn” can only be retrieved after giving chemicals.

Brigadier Salem Al Rumaithi, director of the criminal investigation department, said one of the family members told the police that an African woman, who was a daily visitor to their family home to treat their mother, told them that she knew someone who can take out the treasure.

The woman called a man who amazed the family by getting some gold. He buried it again, saying that the jinn was upset. He then asked them to pay an amount of Dh800,000. He collected the money and soon disappeared. The family was told that he was captured by jinn and they had to come to Dubai to save him. In Dubai, the family met the suspect, who asked to pay Dh720,000, in order to rescue the man and retrieve the treasure.

The family paid the amount but got suspicious about the entire episode and informed the Dubai Police who arrested the suspect.

Major-General Khalil Ibrahim Al Mansouri, assistant commander-in-chief of the Dubai Police for criminal investigation, urged the public not to fall prey to the criminals who approach them with stories and tricks.