UAE scam alert: Merchants lose tonnes of avocados, beef, onions

Khaleej Times

Victims said the heists were executed with such meticulous planning and finesse that they didn’t see any red flags

Transcript

00:00 >> Hello, Khaleesh Times viewers, and welcome to this one of a kind interview

00:04 with our very own journalist, Mr. Mazhar Farooqui.

00:07 Hello, and welcome to this podcast.

00:09 >> Thank you.

00:10 >> So you have just broken an exclusive Khaleesh Times story that you've been

00:14 working on for around like five to ten years, I wanna say.

00:18 >> Not this one, but I have worked on similar scams for

00:21 as long as I can remember, I think about eight, ten years.

00:23 >> Right. >> And these scams have become a recurrent

00:25 feature, and these criminal masterminds are getting so inventive.

00:30 >> Yeah. >> They come with crazy schemes and ideas.

00:32 >> Okay, so let's start from the beginning.

00:34 So this is what you call a trading scam.

00:37 >> Right.

00:37 >> Right, okay, so let's talk about the headline.

00:39 The headline here is that tons of avocados, cherries, and

00:43 onions were stolen in this audacious heist in the UAE.

00:48 Tell us a little bit more about that.

00:51 >> What happened in this case is that the criminal masterminds,

00:53 they put up an ad on LinkedIn saying that they want 150 packers.

00:58 And these poor people had no idea that they've been hired for a specific job.

01:02 So how the scam works is very simple.

01:04 Criminal masterminds, they find people who are jobless from South Asian countries.

01:11 They bring them here, and they make them the CEO of the company.

01:14 So we have tracked down at least ten or 12 cases in which we found out that the CEO

01:18 turned out to be a gardener, a driver, a construction worker.

01:23 So he comes here, he gets an emirate's ID and everything, and

01:26 then they give him everything, the whole thing.

01:31 And when the company is set up, they have a proper DD license.

01:35 They have a proper office, fancy office always.

01:37 And then they bring in people from as far as, from various countries.

01:42 So once it's a legitimate company,

01:44 they go out in the market to buy things that they can.

01:46 So in this case, they bought avocados, cherries, loose tea, everything.

01:51 And they make payment in cash.

01:53 Now once you're making payment in cash, you gain the trust of traders.

01:56 This is a good company, their office is very good,

01:58 they have legitimate documents.

02:00 Now once they have established their trust,

02:04 what they do is they place bulk orders.

02:06 >> And where are they getting this from?

02:09 Who are they scamming exactly?

02:10 Which countries?

02:11 >> Yeah, so what they do in this case, they scam people from as far as Turkey,

02:14 Indonesia, Malaysia, many traders in the UAE as well.

02:19 So I'm a company, I'm sending out queries by email to companies around

02:24 the world saying that I need to buy these things.

02:27 So once I send out emails, the company's gonna look up my website,

02:31 have a proper website, my documents are proper.

02:35 So sometimes they actually come also.

02:37 In many cases, people have actually come to see the company.

02:40 Is it for real?

02:41 >> Yeah. >> It's for real.

02:42 This is a proper office.

02:43 >> Okay.

02:44 >> So once they have placed the bulk orders, so

02:51 imagine the company from Malaysia sends 50 tons of avocados.

02:55 And they give them postage checks.

02:59 And the same they did it for traders in the UAE.

03:02 But before this check is cashed, because the check has 30,

03:05 40 days of time, in this period,

03:09 they'll buy anything that they can get their hands on.

03:12 >> So the scammers give a check- >> Postage check.

03:14 >> Postage checks.

03:15 >> Okay.

03:16 >> Because first payment is made in cash.

03:18 >> Yeah. >> Second payment,

03:19 they say, okay, I'm gonna give you a current check, which is postage.

03:21 >> And can we just explain to the audience why the cash first?

03:24 >> They give the cash so that they can gain trust.

03:27 >> To gain trust. >> That this is a company which is

03:28 cash rich.

03:29 >> Right. >> And they're giving the check,

03:31 which is up to 30 days, up to 40 days.

03:33 That's how market works here.

03:35 You make a million advance.

03:37 So in that window of 30, 40 days, their agents go out.

03:42 And these agents are scammers with fake IDs, fake visiting cards.

03:48 They work as purchase managers.

03:49 They go to buy anything that they can get on.

03:52 So I remember a case where they actually went and

03:54 bought 5,000 buffaloes and goats.

03:57 >> Okay.

03:59 >> Imagine. >> So it's not just food, guys.

04:00 >> Yeah. >> It's also buffaloes.

04:01 >> And once they bought 120 cartons of Panadol.

04:04 Who does that?

04:05 >> Yeah. >> But these are like,

04:07 anything that they can buy, they will buy against postage checks.

04:11 But before the check is in cash- >> Sorry, but

04:14 when they're buying all this stuff in bulk, are there no eyes on them?

04:18 Is there no one controlling this?

04:20 >> No, well, they're legitimate companies.

04:23 They are buying things.

04:24 >> Okay. >> And the goods are delivered to

04:26 a warehouse.

04:27 So if I'm buying it from you and you're delivering goods from a warehouse,

04:31 it's a proper setup.

04:32 >> Right.

04:33 >> But before your check is in cash, I shut down the warehouse.

04:37 I shut down my office.

04:38 I shut down all my phones.

04:40 And anyone who's part of the company just vanishes.

04:43 Now, when you go to the bank, your check is bounced.

04:46 They say, my God, what's happening?

04:48 You rush to the company, everyone has disappeared.

04:51 You go to the warehouse, it's shut down.

04:53 >> Yeah. >> So what these guys do is that

04:57 they find warehouses which they can get for rent for 15 days, 20 days.

05:01 And another emirate.

05:03 So overnight, they'll move all this stuff to another warehouse.

05:07 >> Right. >> So there is no trace left.

05:09 You don't know where this stuff has gone.

05:11 >> They've been ghosted.

05:12 >> They've been ghosted.

05:13 In the meantime, the MD of the company,

05:18 whose name was on the trade license, he has already left the country.

05:21 So when you go to the police as the traders have gone,

05:24 they have, who do they prosecute?

05:27 >> Right. >> It's all they are left with

05:28 are a bunch of debt checks.

05:30 >> But my question, the first thing that pops up is,

05:33 why wouldn't the providers of the products,

05:37 why wouldn't they just do a 50% upfront at least payment?

05:41 Or just take a little bit of, kind of a cautionary tale.

05:44 >> They have done that as well.

05:46 But even if you give 50%.

05:48 >> Still wouldn't.

05:49 >> You still lose everything.

05:50 >> Account for 200,000 avocados that they're transferring.

05:55 >> They were like tons of meat as well.

05:57 >> Yeah. >> Cherries, tomatoes,

05:58 onions, oil, I don't know how many liters of oil.

06:01 >> I just want to show everyone how it looks like on the page so

06:03 that you can go and do your own reading here.

06:05 >> And these are actual pictures from- >> From the actual transfer.

06:09 Interesting, okay.

06:11 All right, great.

06:12 And where else can people find your stories,

06:14 Muzar, because this is exclusive stuff.

06:17 >> Well, mostly on the Khalil's website.

06:18 >> Website.

06:19 >> And we have been doing this for many, many years, such scams.

06:22 And it is sad that it keeps on happening.

06:24 The best way to avoid is to always do your due diligence,

06:28 not deal with postage checks, use cash payments.

06:33 >> Yeah, and the thing is you can't really trace a warehouse or

06:36 anything because they are going to have an actual address.

06:40 But you shouldn't depend on that, don't depend on that.

06:42 >> The best thing would be to see when the website was set up.

06:45 >> When it was set up?

06:46 >> Yeah, and where's the domain name registered.

06:48 >> Okay. >> So that's a dead giveaway.

06:50 So in many cases, the website is set up three, four months back.

06:53 So you know that the company is dodgy.

06:55 >> Yeah, yeah. >> But these guys are so

06:56 smart, what they also do is they take over existing companies.

06:59 Suppose the company has been running around for ten years.

07:02 So you know the company has some credibility,

07:04 it's been in the market for ten years.

07:06 Now if the company is running for ten years, I am the scammer,

07:09 I go to the owner and say, look, take X amount of money.

07:13 Now hand the ownership to me.

07:16 >> Yeah. >> I become the owner, but

07:17 the company is there for ten years.

07:19 >> Right, okay.

07:20 >> So it has some credibility.

07:21 >> Has some credibility.

07:22 >> But the ownership has changed.

07:24 Now these people go out in the market and execute the scam.

07:26 And they do it with such brilliance, it's amazing.

07:29 >> Wow, all right.

07:30 Well, you don't wanna give them too much credit.

07:32 [LAUGH] You guys are smart, but not that smart, cuz Muzhar's onto you.

07:36 All right, thank you so much for being with us today.

07:39 We can't wait to see what the next story is going to be.

07:43 >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much, guys.

07:44 We'll see you in the next one.

07:45 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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