Woman paid $575,000 to conmen in bogus oil deal

An American woman paid her life savings of US$575,000 to three African conmen claiming to represent the rulers of the UAE in a deal over an oilfield, hears court.

DUBAI // An American woman paid her US$575,000 (Dh2.1million) life savings to three conmen who claimed they represented the UAE’s Rulers in an oil deal, a court heard yesterday.

The woman, who was living in Ghana, was contacted in April 2012 by a man using a UK number who asked if she was interested in investing in gold, but she turned him down. A few days later the same man called back, claiming that he was representing the UAE in an $80m investment in a Ghanaian oilfield.

He asked the woman, a chemical engineer, to prepare a study into the investment and send it to him. When he received the study he told her that the Rulers of the UAE had chosen to conduct the deal through her and invited her to Dubai to sign the contract.

She arrived at Dubai airport in May the same year and was picked up by a Nigerian man who took her to the offices of a bogus company where she met another Nigerian and a Jordanian and was shown a contract that the men claimed had been signed by the UAE’s Rulers.

“They told me the UAE was very excited about doing business with me so I signed the contract after I saw the President’s and Rulers’ signatures,” she recalled.

As part of the deal, the woman was asked to pay $2.4m as a guarantee. She could not afford this, but managed to pay $575,000 by using all her life savings and selling her most valuable possessions.

Soon afterwards she lost contact with the men, who ignored her calls, and by August the woman was growing increasingly suspicious.

“Someone then called me, I don’t know how he got my number or who he was, but he told me that I had been conned and he provided me with the defendants’ real names and pictures so I came to the UAE and lodged a police complaint,” said the woman.

In November police arrested the trio and the men confessed.

“S M, who was arrested in his flat in Al Nahda, said his share was $300,000,” S T A, a Dubai police officer told the Criminal Court.

Prosecutors charged the Nigerians S M, 40, S A, 36 and Jordanian A S, 58, with forging an official document, forging the signature of the UAE President and the signatures of all UAE Rulers, and of using a forged document.

The two Nigerians were also charged with embezzling $575,000.

The Criminal Court ruled the case was out of its jurisdiction and ordered the two Nigerians to remain in police custody. Records did not make clear why there was no similar order for the third man.