Man arrested for creating fake government Facebook account

He was using the accounts to sell fraudulent residency visas

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Dubai Police have arrested a young man on suspicion of creating a fake social media page for a government entity with the intent of selling fraudulent UAE residencies for Dh30,000.

Brig Salem Al Rumaithi, director of the criminal investigation department at Dubai Police, said: “We received reliable information from an Arab journalist about a fake page claiming to belong to a government body linked to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs. The man who created the page claimed he was working for the government body.”

Police tasked an anti-cybercrime team to verify the matter and track the suspect.

The police team managed to contact the suspect by claiming they wanted to use the page's services. They agreed on an appointment to hand over the required documents and money, and the suspect was arrested.

The fake page was closed and the suspect referred to the Public Prosecution for further investigations.

Col Saeed Al Hajri, director of the cybercrimes department at Dubai Police, said the suspect was offering a bogus two-year residency visa for Dh20,000 and a bogus three-year residency for Dh30,000.