A fraudster who tricked an unsuspecting investor into spending tens of thousands of dirhams on a non-existent company has been handed a one-year jail sentence.
The Egyptian conman, 36, forged a trade licence for a fictitious petrol company, attributing the document to Dubai's department of economic development.
He then courted the Emirati backer, 49, by offering him a share of the proceeds of the sale of the company - as long as he stumped up the money required to renew the trading license.
The defendant told the victim that he was one of the owners of the company and was eager to sell.
“He said that he and the partners agreed to sell the company but were incapable financially to pay for its license renewal and, if I paid for it, I would get a good profit once the company was sold,” said the victim.
The man said he paid the bogus businessman Dh370,000 to fund the licence renewal.
When the accused stop taking his calls as he sought answers over when the company would be sold, he alerted police.
The offender was arrested and the faked licence was found on his laptop.
He confessed to the crime, but said he only took Dh120,000 from the would-be investor.
He was convicted of forgery, use of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining Dh120,000 at Dubai Criminal Court on Thursday.
The trickster will be deported once he has served his prison term.