Picture for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

The Dubai Misdemeanor Court has sentenced two Asian shop employees to one month in prison and fined them Dh146,000 after convicting them of conspiring with a scammer to defraud their employer. The court also ordered their deportation following their jail term. Court documents revealed that the scammer posed as a customer interested in purchasing 35 iPhone 15 Pro Max devices worth Dh146,000. Since the phones were not in stock, the shopkeeper entrusted his employees with the money to buy the devices from nearby stores. Instead, the employees handed the cash to the scammer outside the shop after agreeing to a cut—Dh50,000 for one and Dh20,000 for the other. However, the man disappeared with the money, leaving them empty-handed. When pressed by their employer for the phones or the money, the employees initially claimed the fraudster would return with payment after evening prayers. Realizing the ruse, the shop owner reported the matter to police. Investigators uncovered the scheme through testimony, WhatsApp messages, and the employees’ eventual confessions. Both admitted to colluding with the scammer but were also duped when he vanished. The court concluded that the employees had “breached their employer’s trust” by taking part in the scam. ICA/Expat Media
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