Post-paid connections rake up bills of Dh14,000, which was used for data gifting
A victim of identity theft said he was left facing a bill of at least Dh14,000 after unidentified fraudsters used his lost Emirates ID to subscribe to six postpaid mobile numbers.
Indian expat Abhilash Nair, 31, had lost his Emirates ID card in October and was promptly issued a replacement. Unknown to him, someone used the lost card to subscribe to the numbers in November.
Nair, who works in sales at a property company in Dubai, had gone home on holiday in February. When he checked his email on returning to Dubai, he was shocked to find a bill of over Dh7,000 issued to a number under his name.
He rushed to the Deira business centre of the phone company and received another shocker — five more numbers had been registered under his name. Dues for four of the numbers amounted to around Dh14,000 while the bills for the remaining two were not available, Nair said.
Nair filed a fraud complaint and said that he was surprised to hear later that “the investigation team had analysed the case and told me that these numbers were taken with my presence and they were closing the case from their side”.
He added that he was told the telecom company employee who processed the subscription applications was on leave and unreachable.
Left bewildered, Nair tried filing a police complaint but said officials told him they needed further details, such as the retail location where the numbers were issued, which Nair did not know. He added that despite several attempts, he was unable to obtain that piece of information.
“I must have gone 15-20 times to different business centres and police stations. I was unable to concentrate on my work,” Nair, who hails from the Indian state of Kerala, said.
He added that, his case was reviewed. “The signatures used to apply for the numbers were not mine. The ID used was old and carried my old photo. Other documents, such as salary certificates, were obviously not mine.”
Nair, who is a UAE resident of more than three years, said he was informed the bills were mostly related to “data gifting”, where internet data bundle packs were sent to other numbers.
“The numbers would remain switched off for a month, turn on, do some data gifting, and turn off again. According to the billing information, there were some calls made to Bangladesh as well,” he added.
According to Nair, he learnt that the numbers were eventually blocked due to “overuse” and unpaid bills. He said he has recently been verbally informed by the telecom company that the case is in the process of being resolved officially. “Whoever did this to me was an expert in this kind of fraud. I’m so relieved this issue is coming to an end.”
A comment from the service provider was not available.
Source: GulfNews