Prosecutors have lost an appeal for the harsher sentencing of three men who scammed businessmen out of almost one million dirhams in an online Bitcoin scam.
The Pakistani men, all aged 38, were sentenced to one year in prison each by Dubai Criminal Court to be followed by deportation and acquitted five others.
Prosecutors sought a harsher sentence through Dubai Court of Appeal and to secure a conviction against the men who were acquitted.
All eight men, one from India, one from Bangladesh and the rest from Pakistan, were initially charged with confinement and theft.
They had all been allegedly involved in a scam on Facebook, where they claimed to be selling Bitcoins. When Chinese businessmen showed interest, they set up a meeting in Al Rafaa, but it was interrupted by intruders pretending to be police officers who tied the men up and took Dh800,000 in cash.
One of the Chinese businessmen managed to free himself and caught one of the defendants, restraining him until police arrived.
Police were able to track down the other suspects from the number plate of their getaway car.
