An Indian businessman in Dubai is shocked and devastated after all four of his companies fell victim to a serial fraudster within a few days, causing a combined loss of over AED 1.8 million.
Mirza Iliaz Baig, who runs a trading company with divisions Iveond Consultancy, IRA Travel and Tourism, food and construction materials, claimed his company was recently attacked by five fraudulent companies at once.
He said Iveond Consultancy, which supplies laptops, LED TVs and hard drives, suffered the biggest loss of AED 958,970. IRA Travel and Tourism was duped out of AED 648,000, while IRA General Trading and Food Staff, which supplied onions and toiletries, lost AED 200,315.
The fraudulent companies Digital Genius Technologies, Daemo International, Noor Al Sidra Trading, Fair Words Goods Trading and Wahat Al Rayan Trading have disappeared leaving behind numerous other accused. The companies used a common method – purchasing goods and services with postdated cheques that eventually bounced.
“I’m in shock,” Baig said. “It’s surreal. I run four companies in different sectors and they’ve all been scammed. I don’t know how to recover from these losses.”
Baig’s ordeal began when Digital Genius Technologies approached IRA Travel and Tourism to book flights and hotels worth 319,000 dirhams.
“I thought business was booming when Digital Genius offered 15- and 30- or 31-day post-dated cheques with a credit target of 30-45 days for each cheque. They also issued security cheques of 200,000 dirhams,” Baig said.
During the same period, four other companies also used the services of IRA Travel and Tourism.
According the travel company had processed 139 orders including air tickets to various destinations such as London.
Toronto, Los Angeles, Istanbul, Kolkata and Kuala Lumpur. Bookings included stays in five-star hotels and experiences such as desert safaris, visits to Atlantis Aquaventure and Burj Khalifa.
Of all the postdated cheques received, only one worth 92,979 dirhams was cashed. The rest burst.
Four of the five fraudulent companies targeted several of Baig’s companies. “They contacted me within a few days and disappeared at the same time, so I think they were connected. They seemed to be working together,” Baig said.
Its largest creditor is Digital Genius, which operates out of Al Nahda, Dubai. In addition to the 265,000 dirhams it spent on hotel and flight bookings, the company also purchased 40 Samsung screens, 100 tablets, 200 AirPods, 40 digital cameras, 20 projectors, 100 routers and 30 MacBooks worth around 772,800 dirhams. The goods were delivered to the company’s warehouse.
Another businessman who supplied cashew nuts to Noor Al Sidra Trading reported a loss of 110,000 dirhams. “Many of us are in the same situation,” he said. Goods purchased with such bad cheques are usually resold for cash at a lower price.
Baig has filed a police report and is now thinking about the future of his businesses. “This is a serious economic blow. I may have to close one of my operations,” he said.
Also a runaway company
Meanwhile, another company, Max Clove Technologies, suddenly closed its offices on Al Mina Street and warehouse in Al Quoz on May 13, disappearing with goods estimated to be worth more than 40 million dirhams.
SM, who runs a trading company in Dubai, said: “We delivered construction materials worth 45,000 dirhams. Nearly 100 people in our WhatsApp group are dealing with even bigger losses, some of them reaching up to 1 million dirhams.”
Many others, such as Mohammad Risas from Sri Lanka who dealt with Max Clove, reported his “We received bad cheques worth about Dh40,000 for laptops and other computer equipment.
Asbis (Dh477,483), Acube Infotech (Dh145,000), Bright Apollo Technology (Dh200,000), Wbio Computer (Dh92,000), Advance Leader Technology (Dh75,000) and Nas Electronics (Dh40,355) are among the many companies that suffered losses following Max Clove Technologies’ IPO.