Man arrested for conning strangers

dubai — An Asian man was arrested for conning an Arab man and using his bank card details to buy seven iPhone X smartphones.

The suspect cheated the Arab man by claiming he had won a prize and wanted details for verification.

Colonel Omar bin Hammad, director of the economic crimes department at the Dubai Police, confirmed that some criminals are still cheating people by the same method with the lure of having wona a prize. Bin Hammad said that in one of the recent cases, a victim who was waiting for his prize money to be transferred to his account was taken by surprise when officials called him to mention that money was withdrawn from his bank account because he disclosed his bank card number and pin code to the swindler .

“The Asian suspect had bought seven iPhones and without the vigilance of the police team, the victim would have lost all the money in successive purchases done by the fraudster.”

“The case came to light when two people complained they had transferred money to an Asian person who had called them. They told the caller told them they had won prizes worth Dh200,000 and after they transferred money to him, he switched off his phone and disappeared.

An investigation was launched by the Dubai Police who arrested the Asian fraudster, who also was able to take money from the Arab victim using the same method.

The victim said the suspect claimed that the code on the back of the card will speed up the transfer process. Bin Hammad said the fraudster confessed that he made purchases using the card number. The anti-economic crime officials contacted the bank to cancel the purchases. The officer urged the public not to respond to such calls as they are just scams. “One should not disclose bank details to anyone, said Bin Hammad.