The victims transferred credit to the mobile phones of the accused believing that they had won the grand prize from a telecom company..
The Sharjah Police have nabbed six Asian conmen, who allegedly cheated people by luring them to transfer mobile phone credit on the pretense that they have won a “grand prize”.
It was found that the suspects were using a residential flat at Al Nahda area in Sharjah as a hub for their swindling activity.
The police initiated an investigation after receiving various complaints from victims, who transferred credit to the accused believing that they had won the grand prize from a well known telecommunication company. During the investigation, it was revealed that their main victims were from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. After successfully getting their victims to transfer the credit, the accused would immediately disconnect the call.
“Investigations conducted by the police resulted in the arrest of the six suspects and we recovered a large number of mobile phones and phone cards from them. We also found some print-outs offering guidelines about ways of making a customer easily believe their claims,” a police officer said.
The six accused confessed to the crime and said they had come to the country on visit visas arranged by a compatriot, who also rented the flat for them. He also trained them on how to talk like the employees of the telecommunication company, with tips on convincing them about the prize.
“The six accused were being offered salaries ranging from Dh1,500 to Dh2,000. As soon as they convinced the victims to transfer the credit, it was further transferred to a mobile phone number in Qatar,” the officer said.
The suspects are currently in detention and will be referred to the public prosecution. A hunt has also been launched for the arrest of the head of the gang.
