A man scammed a Saudi Arabian man out of more than Dh3m after convincing him to invest his money in an international company, heard Dubai Court of Misdemeanours.
An Arab man who worked at a company in Riyadh called the Saudi man in December last year, offering to invest his money in stocks.
"I was provided their links and documents, I checked it, the company was functioning and everything so I believed him and transferred Dh3.375m in three instalments," the man said.
He said profits were deposited into his account after he made the first transfer but did not make any profit after the second two transfers.
Upon checking his bank account, he found he had only Dh22,000 left. He said all his attempts to contact the Arab man failed.
"I started asking and investigating then learnt that the international company he told me about didn't exist and that my money was deposited in a bank account of a Greek man," said the man.
The Saudi national travelled to Dubai, where the account holder was based, and lodged a complaint against him.
The Greek defendant, 46, said in records that he owns an investment company in Dubai and the Dh3.375m was transferred to his company from another in the Caribbean named Smart Choice.
"I invested in currency and took my commission of Dh25,000 then transferred the amount of Dh3.375m back to Smart Choice which lost the man's money in bad investments," said the defendant.
"He is lodging the complaint because he lost his money, but I didn't take it," said the accused.
The court ordered an auditor be assigned to study the documents and investigate the relationship between the defendant's company and Smart Choice before submitting a detailed report.
The next hearing will be held on November 14.