A start-up company launched in Dubai is helping reunite people with their lost or stolen mobile phones and other valuable possessions.
StolenandFound.com was founded by 33-year-old Afghan, Yacob Quraishe, who came up with the idea after buying a Rolex watch online only to discover it was stolen.
Owners of expensive property can register their products online for free via the website, so a unique serial number can be traced if the item is then stolen or lost and resold.
Mr Quraishe, who thought of the idea while working in Sweden, is now hoping to attract a sponsor in the UAE to help bring police and online retailers on board to help victims of crime recover their stolen goods.
“The idea came when I bought my first Rolex watch from Sweden’s largest buy and sell website, just like Dubizzle,” he said.
“Before I purchased the watch, I went to the pawnshop to make sure the watch and its documentation were genuine, and they confirmed everything.
“After two months, I went to a certified Rolex store to have it serviced and they confiscated it because it was reported stolen.”
Despite the incident leaving Mr Quraishe more than Dh17,000 out of pocket, it inspired him to set up the website to help stop others falling into the same trap.
He quit his job in Sweden, where he was working for a government backed agency helping find accommodation for young refugees, to move to Dubai and set up on his own.
The online portal is now winning plenty of exposure thanks to a Pakistani internet sensation.
Since launching just a few weeks ago, StolenandFound.com has become one of top 13,000 viewed websites in Pakistan out of hundreds of thousands.
It has been similarly popular in India, where it is in the top 100,000 viewed online sites ranked out of more than a million.
The rising success of the website can be tracked through the Amazon.com Alexa portal, that monitors web traffic to specific websites.
Currently, the business employs four people in the UAE and has 19 working on the website in Karachi.
To boost the profile of his fledgling enterprise, Mr Quraishe has enlisted the help of high profile vloggers to promote the site on YouTube. It has been a big success.
“We have invited three high profile YouTubers to travel to Dubai, Sham Idrees being one of them and to promote StolenAndFound.com via daily vlogs for a week,” he said.
“A short film with Sham was uploaded at 8pm, and by the next morning it had received more than 800,000 views.
“The response has been overwhelming, with thousands of new users and we are expecting thousands more in the coming days ahead as we have another vlog promotion in the next few days.
“Due to such high numbers of new users in such a short amount of time we are more worried about the website crashing.”
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Government advice for anyone who loses property or thinks it may have been stolen in Dubai is to first notify the police in person as soon as possible.
Failure to recover the items within 48 hours will lead to a formal report so an insurance claim can be made. Lost documents should also be reported to police immediately so they can enter their details into official databases to avoid misuse.
One of the site promoters, Mr Idrees is a Canadian-Pakistani vlogger based in London, who is a music director and actor with millions of social media followers, and a family friend of Mr Quraishe.
Other vloggers are also lined up to help promote the new business, including Shahveer Jafry who has millions of social media followers.
“It is easy for me to find high profile people like Sham and Shahveer in Pakistan and India as we have lots of good connections with my family,” Mr Quraishe said.
“It is harder in the UAE as I am new here.
“This is the best way to promote a new business. We are just a month old and we are already ranked relatively highly in Pakistan.”
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
What's in the deal?
Agreement aims to boost trade by £25.5bn a year in the long run, compared with a total of £42.6bn in 2024
India will slash levies on medical devices, machinery, cosmetics, soft drinks and lamb.
India will also cut automotive tariffs to 10% under a quota from over 100% currently.
Indian employees in the UK will receive three years exemption from social security payments
India expects 99% of exports to benefit from zero duty, raising opportunities for textiles, marine products, footwear and jewellery
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
Episode list:
Ep1: A recovery like no other- the unevenness of the economic recovery
Ep2: PCR and jobs - the future of work - new trends and challenges
Ep3: The recovery and global trade disruptions - globalisation post-pandemic
Ep4: Inflation- services and goods - debt risks
Ep5: Travel and tourism
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Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
Five personal finance podcasts from The National
To help you get started, tune into these Pocketful of Dirham episodes
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Should you buy or rent a home in the UAE?
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What is a robo-adviser?
Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.
These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.
Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.
Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.
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MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Croatia v Hungary, Thursday, 10.45pm, UAE
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
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Start times
5.55am: Wheelchair Marathon Elites
6am: Marathon Elites
7am: Marathon Masses
9am: 10Km Road Race
11am: 4Km Fun Run
Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
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Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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