Pinoy falls prey to Dubai taxi scam

MANILA, Philippines - A Filipino fell prey to an elaborate scam run by an African man operating a "colorum" taxi in the United Arab Emirates, an online news site reported Tuesday.

Police in Dubai have arrested the African suspect after the Filipino and a fellow victim lodged a complaint, according to a report on Arab News.

The report said the Filipino, who it did not name, was waiting for a taxi near the Mall of Emirates when the suspect stopped to pick him up.

When the Filipino asked about the fare, the man told him not to worry. The suspect's accomplice, posing as another passenger, was aboard the cab at the time.

But instead of taking the Filipino to his destination, the suspect drove to a secluded area where he claimed he was dropping off the other passenger.

There, the "passenger" got off, but rushed back shouting and claiming someone had stolen his American dollars.

He demanded to inspect the driver’s wallet and after checking it and finding nothing asked for the Filipino passenger’s wallet.

When the victim handed over his wallet, which had 2,800 dirhams (P36,389), the passenger checked and returned it to him, then threw some dollars at the Filipino victim’s feet.

Fearing he was being framed, the man ran away and only later realized he had been conned.

The other victim, a Pakistani, claimed he was similarly swindled, losing 9,000 dirhams (P116,965) out of the 20,000 dirhams (P259,923) he was carrying in his wallet.

Police said they learned the suspect had a long history of committing such crimes, and found him carrying false identities and a forged passport from the Ivory Coast.

The man had previously been deported from the UAE for a similar crime and had entered the Emirates under a different name and a Cameroon passport, the report said. - GMANews.TV

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