Man held for printing fake currencies

dubai — A man was arrested by the Dubai Police and charged with fraud for money multiplication and embezzlement.

The economic crimes department of the police arrested an African national and seized a printer with which he turned black paper into fake currencies.

Brigadier Salem Al Rumaithi, director of the criminal investigation department of the Dubai Police, said the information about the man was given to the police by victims — an Asian and a European — who had given over $10,000 to multiply into half a million euros.

“The victims received emails from the defendant and agreed to meet him at a hotel in Dubai. The African said he had the ability to multiply money and did an initial trial and gave them Dh1,000. To convince the victims, he told them to go to an exchange office to check on the money. When they found the money was genuine, they gave him over $10,000 to turn it into half a million euros,” said Al Rumaithi.

The suspect disappeared with the money and stopped answering phone calls.

Al Rumaithi said the police managed to identify the suspect within hours after receiving the complaint. They found the accused was living alone in a rented flat in a neighbouring emirate. After taking necessary permissions, he was arrested inside his flat from where the police seized a printer, foreign currencies and

Despite many warnings by the police, some people still believe the allegations of fraudsters that they have the ability to multiply money.” Col. Omar Bin Hammad, director, economic crime department, Dubai Police

millions of black papers which he planned to turn into fake dollars and euros.

The accused admitted he was multiplying money with the printer he had received from a friend who had made some adjustments to print money and show it to the victims. His friend also left him more than $10 million fake dollars for fraudulent operations.

Col. Omar bin Hammad, director of economic crime department, said that the money exchange had been contacted to return the money.

The police also found that the defendant was staying illegally in the country, violating residency laws. He was referred to the public prosecution for further investigation.

“Despite many warnings by the police, some people still believe the claims of fraudsters that they have the ability to multiply money,” said Hammad. The number of such crimes has dropped since the police launched awareness campaigns, but there still some who fall for it,” he said.