Abu Dhabi court convicts 79 people of fraud, money laundering

The Abu Dhabi Criminal Court has convicted an organised criminal group that used fake URLs of a Chinese website to defraud people and launder money.

The group, which included 79 people of various nationalities (72 Chinese, one Jordanian, two Nigerians, two Cameroonians, one Ugandan and one Kenyan) were handed prison terms ranging from three to 15 years, followed by deportation.

They were also ordered to pay fines ranging from AED 200,000 to AED 10 million, while the funds seized by the accused were also confiscated, in addition to their cars, real estate, computers, mobile phones, watches and jewellery.

Thirteen of them were sentenced in absentia while the remaining were convicted in person.

The defendants, in association with another unknown accused person were found guilty of tampering with the internet protocols of a China-based website specialising in securities trading, and using a fictitious address to defraud the victims who were lured into investing in securities.

The group then laundered the funds in order to conceal the actual source of the proceeds.