(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Â A man who fleeced his victims of money by promising to register special telephone numbers in their names, has been arrested by the Abu Dhabi Police.
He made up to Dh40,000 from one person by promising him a very special telephone number.
It appeared that the customised numbers he offered were actually in use and belonged to other persons. The conman selected his victims randomly by announcing his service through the 'Podcast' and by sending an SMS. He claimed he owned some special numbers and would like to dispose of most of them at a special price.
Colonel Ojeil Ali Al Junaibi, Director of the Western Region Police Directorate at Abu Dhabi Police GHQ said: "The suspect, an Arab national, had been duping people in all the seven emirates under many Emirati names and citing bogus professions."
He pointed out that many of the victims did not lodge complaints out of embarrassment of admitting that they were duped and, in some cases, the loss was not substantial.
"Most criminal reports filed against the suspect were phone fraud where he followed the same modus operandi," he said, adding that, investigations are still ongoing to find out the amount of money he had swindled from his victims, which exceeded tens of thousands of dirhams.
"In one instance, he managed to meet his victim and took from him Dh40,000 in cash after convincing him of registering a special telephone number in his name," said Colonel Junaibi.
Colonel Junaibi said the suspect, A.R.K., 27, is jobless.
He exploited people who were interested in possessing special numbers at encouraging prices, especially numbers that could be easily memorised and had repeated digits.
At times, the culprit identified himself as an Emirati operations manager with a telephone service provider in the country and at times he would say that he was based outside the country and that his representative, who holds a power of attorney from him, would register the phone in the name of the buyer.
"The buyer would discover that he had been victimised only when he visited the sales office with the belief that the card had been registered in his name," Colonel Junaibi added. The sales officer would not register the number on the grounds that the name of the user was not identical to the name of the applicant."
And by the time the victim called the alleged swindler, the latter would have changed his number and would be on the prowl for new victims.
Colonel Junaibi urged the public not to fall prey to such fraud.
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