Four men posed as charity workers to steal more than Dh10,000 in donations from people, Dubai Criminal Court was told on Sunday.
The court was told that the men, two from Egypt and the other two from Comoros Islands, forged identification cards and receipt books which they used to scam people into donating to the charity.
The men – aged between 40 and 43 – were charged with forgery, use of forged documents, posing as employees of a public entity and fraudulently obtaining more than Dh10,000 in donations.
Records show that in February 2015, police spotted two of the defendants visiting shops in Naif.
"We suspected them and stopped them, then referred them for questioning, during which we found out that they were faking being a charity association's representatives and were collecting donations," said a Yemeni policeman.
He said several shop owners in Naif said they had been approached by the two men and paid them donations thinking it was going to the needy through the charity.
"They came to my shop several times and they had the receipts and the identification cards on them so I gave them Dh2,000 in total," said an Indian owner of a fabric shop.
Several other shop owners donated between Dh250 and Dh4000 and were issued receipts by the defendants, records show.
The Emirati director of the charity association said in records that one of the defendants owns an advertising agency and that the association had signed a contract with his company to carry out an advertisement campaign for the charity.
"But we never gave them any documents such as receipt books or identification cards to collect donations, and I have no idea how they obtained them," she said.
In court, one of the man – an Egyptian advertising company manager – said he was in home country at the time of the incidents and was not aware of what the other three defendants did.
The next hearing is scheduled for March 18.
