Pinoy, son charged for running loan racket in UAE

A Filipino barber and his son in the United Arab Emirates faced a court Wednesday over charges they were running a loan racket that involved an illegal 10-percent commission.

The barber, 65, and his son, 36, were charged before the Dubai Court of First Instance for lending money to an undetermined number of people in this way.

But the two denied the allegations and entered a not guilty plea before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday, UAE news site Gulf News reported Thursday.

The lawyer of the two Filipinos asked presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi to hear prosecution witnesses when the court reconvenes on November 17.

Arrest

Citing prosecution records, the Gulf News report said the two were arrested at Jumeirah Beach Road last May 2.

At the time, the son was seen standing in front of an automated teller machine, using 10 credit cards to withdraw cash in three hours.

One Emirati police lieutenant testified the police acted on a tip that the two Filipinos had been using the same ATM for three hours.

He said a police patrol team rushed to the scene and arrested the son, then took him to the Dubai Police Cybercrime Section for questioning.

Police seized from him 24 credit cards that belonged to other people, along with Dh21,000 cash.

“Upon questioning, (the son) confessed that he used to lend money to people against their credit cards as a guarantee. The defendant claimed that the debtors used to give him the pin of each credit card so that whenever the payment was due he would withdraw the amount of the loan in addition to the 10 percent commission," he said.

A subsequent police raid on the Filipino's house yielded some Dh60,000 cash and 324 credit cards that belonged to other people.

The younger Filipino allegedly admitted he took the credit cards from the debtors to guarantee that they would repay the loans.

But he claimed it was his father who ran the operation. The police lieutenant said the elder Filipino was also arrested and confessed to the racket.

The Gulf News report said one of the supposed debtors was a 34-year-old Filipino technician who said he borrowed Dh500 from the younger Filipino and repaid Dh550.

“I handed him my credit card and the PIN. When the payment was due, (the younger Filipino) withdrew Dh550 from the credit card. I borrowed money from him twice,” he testified. — LBG, GMA News

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