DUBAI // A man who fooled a friend into believing he was a woman working at Dubai Duty Free sold fake perfume to him for Dh235,000, a court heard on Wednesday.
Indian S S, 21, forged five receipts using Photoshop and emailed friend W A, 33, from accounts where he posed as Fatima and Jess, who supposedly work at airport duty-free.
W A, who is also from India, said he asked his friend if he knew anyone at Dubai Duty Free that could help him get a permit to do business with companies operating in the free zone and also if he could get him a large quantity of perfume.
Court records show that S S introduced the victim to accountant R T, 24, who claimed to be a salesman in the free zone to convince the victim that S S knew people.
“I had a European client that wanted perfumes from Dubai free zone so S S gave me two email addresses and told me to contact them,” said the victim. “One of the emails belonged to a woman called Fatima and the other belonged to a person called Jess.”
The victim told prosecutors that he emailed Fatima asking for a quote for the perfume. They agreed on the price via email and that S S would bring the products to him.
According to records, the victim paid the Dh235,000 in cash after checking the invoices were correct and then he shipped a quantity of them to Europe. “My client in Europe told me the perfumes I sent were fake and they smell really bad. I took a sample of them and showed them to salespeople who confirmed they were fake,” said the victim.
The victim confronted S S and demanded that he return his money, also making him sign on paper in front of witnesses that the perfumes were fake.
Emirati policeman R A, 29, told prosecutors that R T said that S S would help his brother get a job if R T helped S S.
S S pleaded guilty to forgery and using forged documents unlawfully, while RT denied using forged documents. The next hearing is on April 22.
tzriqat@thenational.ae