DUBAI // Four men who tricked a tenant out of Dh77,000 by renting him a villa they did not own were yesterday sentenced to two years in jail each.
MA, 39, unemployed; AA, 33, a clerk; AR, 28, an interior designer; and MN, 30, his business partner, forged the villa's ownership certificate and a lease contract to dupe the tenant FA.
They presented the forged documents to an estate agency and the tenant who paid them Dh42,000 in cash and wrote them a cheque for Dh35,000.
The tenant's wife had approached RE, a 40-year-old Filipina estate agent, seeking a two-bedroom villa in Al Barsha. However, the estate agent could not find such a property and suggested instead a villa in the Springs that she had found on the internet.
The estate agent spoke to a man who claimed to represent the owner then visited the villa with the tenant and his wife to check it before paying the money and taking the villa's key.
The next morning the tenant's wife called the estate agent to say the keys would not open the villa's door. When the estate agent contacted the man claiming to represent the owner, he said he was in Pakistan and advised her to break open the door. When they did so, they found the villa was already furnished.
All of the men will be deported after serving their prison terms.
salamir@thenational.ae
Specs
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Date started: October 2021
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Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
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What are NFTs?
Are non-fungible tokens a currency, asset, or a licensing instrument? Arnab Das, global market strategist EMEA at Invesco, says they are mix of all of three.
You can buy, hold and use NFTs just like US dollars and Bitcoins. “They can appreciate in value and even produce cash flows.”
However, while money is fungible, NFTs are not. “One Bitcoin, dollar, euro or dirham is largely indistinguishable from the next. Nothing ties a dollar bill to a particular owner, for example. Nor does it tie you to to any goods, services or assets you bought with that currency. In contrast, NFTs confer specific ownership,” Mr Das says.
This makes NFTs closer to a piece of intellectual property such as a work of art or licence, as you can claim royalties or profit by exchanging it at a higher value later, Mr Das says. “They could provide a sustainable income stream.”
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Episode list:
Ep1:
Ep2:
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Ep5:
Coming soon
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Essentials
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