Khaberni - Three swindlers of Arab nationalities executed a sophisticated trick, seizing 800,000 dirhams from a man and his wife after luring them with an advertisement for a fake real estate financing company. They then met the wife and convinced her that they were representatives of a famous property developer, and agreed with her and her husband to finance a villa for them, on condition they pay an upfront deposit, after which the accused disappeared with the amount.
The husband turned to the Emirates police who arrested the accused and referred them to the public prosecution, which then forwarded them to the criminal court that sentenced them to imprisonment and a fine. The victim then filed a civil lawsuit to claim back the seized amount, resulting in the court ordering the accused to pay 900,000 dirhams, which included the deposit as well as 100,000 dirhams as compensation for the plaintiffs.
The details of the case trace back to an advertisement posted on a site "Facebook" for a real estate financing company. The claimant's wife contacted a person who introduced himself as a sales manager at the company. After a series of correspondences and meetings, the couple chose a villa in one of the residential projects, and the accused provided them with a collection of documents and contracts, which later turned out to be forged, including a business license, a sale contract attributed to a property development company, and a purported agreement with a government entity.
With good faith, the husband paid 800,000 dirhams as the first installment of the villa's value, before discovering that the entire deal was a coordinated fraud involving several individuals. He filed a report at the police station, and the public prosecution subsequently referred the accused to criminal trial on charges of forging and using forged documents and fraud.
The criminal court issued a sentence imprisoning the accused for six months and fining them the same amount of the crime in solidarity, along with confiscating the forged documents and deporting them from the country. The civil suit was referred to the competent court. After the judgment was upheld on appeal and cassation, the plaintiff returned to the civil court claiming compensation.
The court affirmed in its grounds that the final criminal judgment has probative value before civil courts in regard to the establishment of the crime and its attribution to the perpetrators. It added that the defendants committed an injurious act represented by the unlawful seizure of the claimant's money. The court also noted that the harm was not only financial but also included disruption to the claimant's financial stability and a loss of trust after missing an investment opportunity and experiencing disappointment due to the fraud.
As a result, the court ordered the return of 800,000 dirhams to the claimant, in addition to compensation of 100,000 dirhams for material and moral damages, plus legal interest at the rate of 5% from the date of claim until full payment.
