Dh7.7 million property scam: Real estate agent flees Dubai after duping businessman in fake deal

Dubai: A British man has been accused of forging official documents to scam a Dubai businessman for Dh7.7 million.

The Dubai Court of First Instance heard on Monday that the 39-year-old defendant had sold a fake property in Dubai to the Egyptian businessman, forged the receipts and other official documents to con the 42-year-old victim.

The victim testified that he met the British defendant at his office at a real estate company on Shaikh Zayed Road and offered him hotel accommodations at an upcoming project near Burj Khalifa belonging to a leading real estate company based in Dubai.

“We agreed to buy it for Dh7.7 million. I paid the money in three advance payments in 2015,” said the Egyptian businessman on record.

The defendant presented the receipts to the businessman and later gave him a contract purportedly issued by a Dubai government department with official stamps.

“He claimed that the unit had been registered under my name and that the final contract would be given to me by the end of the project.”

In 2018, the businessman went to the property company, asking about the unit he had bought and provided them with all the receipts, but those at the realty office told him that the documents were all fake and weren’t issued by them.

“They told me to check with Dubai Land Department, who confirmed that the contract was fake and that the property wasn’t registered in the system,” added the businessman.

He then went to the defendant’s company where the employees told him that the defendant had escaped from the country and that he had scammed other customers and embezzled the company’s funds as well.

“I had done business with him in the past with other property units without any problem. This is the first time that I have had a problem. The project was real, but the unit [that was apparently sold to me] was fake,” he said.

According to official records, the defendant had embezzled Dh24.9 million from the real estate company where he was employed and fled. He was sentenced in absentia to three months and deportation for the embezzlement.

Dubai Public Prosecution has charged the British defendant with forgery, using forged documents and illegally obtaining Dh7.7 million from the businessman.

The case is scheduled for its next hearing on October 26.