Man jailed for causing more than Dh700,000 in losses to Etisalat

The defendant applied for sim cards and phones using altered documents

A sales executive who caused more than Dh700,000 in losses to Etisalat after fraudulently obtaining almost 200 sim cards and 35 smartphones will spend six months in jail.

Dubai Criminal Court convicted and sentenced the 36-year-old Egyptian man on Monday for using forged documents, abusing his position and defrauding his employer.
Records showed that he altered documents and applications between January 2015 and September 2016 to obtain the cards and the phones, causing the telecommunications operator Dh708,132 in losses.
Prosecutors said he abused the username and password granted to him by Etisalat to log into the system and handle applications. He entered fake names of individuals and companies on applications requesting goods and services.
"I was assigned among a team to review all the applications the defendant handled in the past two years and we found many of them completed and handed to the applicants but the payments on each one were not paid for several months," said an Emirati auditor, 36.
He said they also found some of the applications lacked mandatory documentation.
"We couldn't find the 51 original applications from the total number of applications he handled, which was 198," the auditor said.
The defendant was sentenced to six months in jail to be followed by deportation. The court fined him Dh150,000 and an additional Dh596,000 although the reasons for the separate fines were not explained. The defendant was ordered to repay Etisalat for the damages caused.