Khaberni - A European woman executed a theft and fraud operation, seizing cryptocurrencies from an investor after distracting him during a business meeting and replacing his digital wallet device, which contained the keys to access the cryptocurrencies, with an empty box.
The victim immediately reported the crime to the police, and the accused was referred to the Public Prosecution in Dubai, and from there to the criminal court, which sentenced her to imprisonment and a fine.
The plaintiff later resorted to the civil court to obtain compensation for his stolen currencies as their value had doubled since the incident occurred, so the court ruled in his favor and compensated him with about 4.3 million dirhams.
In detail, a European man filed a lawsuit in the Dubai Primary Civil Court, demanding that a woman pay him $1.17 million, or its equivalent in UAE dirhams, as compensation for material damages caused by her seizing digital assets from his electronic wallet.
He said he met someone through a commercial networking platform who claimed to own an investment firm, and this person expressed interest in financing his company, but required that the plaintiff prove his financial solvency and ability to cover financing interest before signing any agreements.
He added that a meeting was arranged to complete the financial verification procedures, but the alleged investor apologized for not attending at the last minute and informed him that his wife would attend on his behalf to complete the procedures.
The plaintiff explained that he met the accused in March last year, and she asked to see his digital wallet device to verify the encrypted assets he owned, but he was later shocked to find that she had replaced the box containing the wallet device with another empty box she had previously prepared, enabling her to seize the access keys to the cryptocurrencies and transfer them.
He mentioned that the assets she stole included two types of currencies, pointing out that he filed a report about the incident, and the accused was referred to the Public Prosecution and from there to the primary criminal court, which sentenced her to two months imprisonment and a fine of two million 876 thousand and 900 dirhams and her deportation from the country, a verdict that was later upheld by the appellate court to become final.
The plaintiff explained that the value of the cryptocurrencies had significantly increased after the incident, with the price of one of the two currencies rising from about $1919 at the time of the theft in March 2025 to about $4609 at the time the lawsuit was filed, causing him a substantial loss of principal and missing out on a significant potential earnings.
The court stated in the reasoning of its decision that final criminal rulings have probative value in civil law regarding the occurrence of the act and its attribution to the doer, preventing the re-examination of these issues again.
The court clarified that compensation under civil transactions law is estimated based on the extent of the damage suffered by the injured party and the earnings missed, noting that digital currencies are financial assets with a volatile investment nature.
The court noted that the theft of assets does not just affect their value at the time of the incident but extends to the increase in their value during the period the owner was deprived of them, considering this a missed gain that would have otherwise accrued to him but for the harmful act.
It confirmed that the documents included financial reports documenting the significant increase in value of the digital currencies in question, and that the accused had presented no evidence to refute these findings.
The court concluded by obliging the accused to pay the plaintiff four million 312 thousand 357 dirhams in compensation for the material damages and missed earnings, along with legal interest at a rate of 5% from the date the judgment became final until payment, in addition to fees, expenses, and attorney's fees.
