Jail for men who conned woman out of Dh2.5m

Two men will spend three years in jail after they conned a businesswoman into paying them Dh2.5 million using forged Ministry of Economy documents.

A Syrian, 55, and his nephew, 28, were found guilty of forgery, use of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining the money from the woman.

The two convinced the 58-year-old Emirati that they owned an investment company that had been awarded a contract by the ministry to organise the 15th GCC Joint Exhibition. They promised her a big profit if she invested with them.

The woman said she was told about an opportunity through a consultant, and met the pair in mid-2013.

The two men showed her documents as proof that they had a Dh29m deal for the exhibition, she said, which convinced her to pay them Dh2.5m in two instalments after signing a partnership agreement.

She said she was handed a Dh3m cheque for her share of the profits, but that it bounced when presented.

“The two apologised because the cheque bounced and gave me another cheque with the same amount, which also bounced, in August 2014,” she said.

The businesswoman said she did not want to file a report with police over the dishonoured cheques because she hoped she could get her money back amicably.

But the older Syrian convinced her to hand him the cheques, which she did after he showed her additional documents to convince her that his company had strong ties and business with the ministry.

Shortly afterwards, her lawyer checked with the ministry and told her that all the documents she had been shown were forged.

At Dubai Criminal Court yesterday, both men denied the charges and said that the documents were not forged.

But both were found guilty and will be deported after serving their terms, which are subject to appeal within 14 days.