Dubai Police arrest two on suspicion of selling properties with fake documents

Scammers managed to get Dh2 million from would-be buyers

Dubai Police arrested two fake real estate agents who scammed several people out of Dh2m. Pawan Singh / The National

Dubai Police have arrested two men on suspicion of selling properties in the emirate that they did not own.

The force said buyers were swindled out of Dh2 million as a result of the scam.

Officers said the men are alleged to have used altered documents to sell the Dubai units to would-be buyers.

Outlining the background to the case, Dubai Police said within the space of two days they received more than a dozen reports from people who were caught by the scam.

“We received 13 reports about the incident in which victims said they saw a post on social media offering to sell units in Dubai for a much cheaper price than they really cost,” said Maj Gen Jamal Al Jallaf, director of Dubai Police's Criminal Investigation Department.

“They said they contacted the two advertisers who claimed they owned the units and needed to sell them quickly to justify the price difference.”

He said the victims visited the units and were shown ownership documents before they handed over payments to the scammers.

“After receiving the payments, the scammers stopped answering their victims' calls,” Maj Gen Al Jallaf said.

A team from the Department of Anti-Economic Crime at Dubai Police was set up to investigate the incident.

Officers were able to identify, track down and arrest the suspects within two days.

Police did not disclose the nationalities of the two men arrested but said they were from an African nation. Their ages and the dates of the incidents were also not revealed.

During questioning, it was discovered the accused had transferred to their hoe country nearly Dh2 million they are alleged to have scammed from their victims.

They were referred to prosecutors for further investigation.

With help from the money exchange centres that were used to wire the money, the transfers were halted and the money was recovered.

“People should more careful,” Maj Gen Al Jallaf said.

"Their desire to own real estate units at such a low and false price made them easy prey for the scammers to the extent they did not even double check the papers they were shown.”