Pair who conned woman out of Dh2.5m jailed for three years each

Syrian man and his nephew convinced Emirati businesswoman to part with sum after convincing her that they were organising a large exhibition.

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Two men will spend three years in jail each after they conned a businesswoman into paying them Dh2.5 million using forged Ministry of Economy documents.

A 55-year-old Syrian and his nephew, 28, were found guilty of charges of forgery, use of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining the money from the woman.

The two convinced the 58-year-old Emirati that they owned an investment company, which they claimed had been awarded a contract by the ministry to organise the 15th GCC Joint Exhibition and promised her a big profit if she invested with them.

She said she was told about an opportunity with the pair through a consultant, and met them in mid-2013.

They showed her documents to prove they had a Dh29 million deal with the ministry for the exhibition, she said, which convinced her to pay them Dh2.5m in two instalments after signing a partnership agreement.

The investor said she was handed a Dh3m cheque for her share of the profits but it bounced.

“The two apologised because the cheque bounced and gave me another cheque with the same amount, which also bounced, in August 2014,” she said.

The businesswoman said she did not want to file a report with police over the dishonoured cheques because she hoped she could get her money back amicably.

But the older Syrian convinced her to hand him the cheques, which she did after he showed her more documents to convince her that his company had strong ties and business with the ministry.

Shortly afterwards, her lawyer checked with the ministry and told her that all the documents she had been shown were forged.

She then reported the two men to police.

At Dubai Criminal Court on Sunday, both men denied the charges and said that the documents were not forged.

However, both were convicted and will be deported after serving their terms, which are subject to appeal within 14 days.