Victims said the heists were executed with such meticulous planning and finesse that they didn’t see any red flags
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00:00 >> Hello, Khaleesh Times viewers, and welcome to this one of a kind interview
00:04 with our very own journalist, Mr. Mazhar Farooqui.
00:07 Hello, and welcome to this podcast.
00:09 >> Thank you.
00:10 >> So you have just broken an exclusive Khaleesh Times story that you've been
00:14 working on for around like five to ten years, I wanna say.
00:18 >> Not this one, but I have worked on similar scams for
00:21 as long as I can remember, I think about eight, ten years.
00:23 >> Right. >> And these scams have become a recurrent
00:25 feature, and these criminal masterminds are getting so inventive.
00:30 >> Yeah. >> They come with crazy schemes and ideas.
00:32 >> Okay, so let's start from the beginning.
00:34 So this is what you call a trading scam.
00:37 >> Right.
00:37 >> Right, okay, so let's talk about the headline.
00:39 The headline here is that tons of avocados, cherries, and
00:43 onions were stolen in this audacious heist in the UAE.
00:48 Tell us a little bit more about that.
00:51 >> What happened in this case is that the criminal masterminds,
00:53 they put up an ad on LinkedIn saying that they want 150 packers.
00:58 And these poor people had no idea that they've been hired for a specific job.
01:02 So how the scam works is very simple.
01:04 Criminal masterminds, they find people who are jobless from South Asian countries.
01:11 They bring them here, and they make them the CEO of the company.
01:14 So we have tracked down at least ten or 12 cases in which we found out that the CEO
01:18 turned out to be a gardener, a driver, a construction worker.
01:23 So he comes here, he gets an emirate's ID and everything, and
01:26 then they give him everything, the whole thing.
01:31 And when the company is set up, they have a proper DD license.
01:35 They have a proper office, fancy office always.
01:37 And then they bring in people from as far as, from various countries.
01:42 So once it's a legitimate company,
01:44 they go out in the market to buy things that they can.
01:46 So in this case, they bought avocados, cherries, loose tea, everything.
01:51 And they make payment in cash.
01:53 Now once you're making payment in cash, you gain the trust of traders.
01:56 This is a good company, their office is very good,
01:58 they have legitimate documents.
02:00 Now once they have established their trust,
02:04 what they do is they place bulk orders.
02:06 >> And where are they getting this from?
02:09 Who are they scamming exactly?
02:10 Which countries?
02:11 >> Yeah, so what they do in this case, they scam people from as far as Turkey,
02:14 Indonesia, Malaysia, many traders in the UAE as well.
02:19 So I'm a company, I'm sending out queries by email to companies around
02:24 the world saying that I need to buy these things.
02:27 So once I send out emails, the company's gonna look up my website,
02:31 have a proper website, my documents are proper.
02:35 So sometimes they actually come also.
02:37 In many cases, people have actually come to see the company.
02:40 Is it for real?
02:41 >> Yeah. >> It's for real.
02:42 This is a proper office.
02:43 >> Okay.
02:44 >> So once they have placed the bulk orders, so
02:51 imagine the company from Malaysia sends 50 tons of avocados.
02:55 And they give them postage checks.
02:59 And the same they did it for traders in the UAE.
03:02 But before this check is cashed, because the check has 30,
03:05 40 days of time, in this period,
03:09 they'll buy anything that they can get their hands on.
03:12 >> So the scammers give a check- >> Postage check.
03:14 >> Postage checks.
03:15 >> Okay.
03:16 >> Because first payment is made in cash.
03:18 >> Yeah. >> Second payment,
03:19 they say, okay, I'm gonna give you a current check, which is postage.
03:21 >> And can we just explain to the audience why the cash first?
03:24 >> They give the cash so that they can gain trust.
03:27 >> To gain trust. >> That this is a company which is
03:28 cash rich.
03:29 >> Right. >> And they're giving the check,
03:31 which is up to 30 days, up to 40 days.
03:33 That's how market works here.
03:35 You make a million advance.
03:37 So in that window of 30, 40 days, their agents go out.
03:42 And these agents are scammers with fake IDs, fake visiting cards.
03:48 They work as purchase managers.
03:49 They go to buy anything that they can get on.
03:52 So I remember a case where they actually went and
03:54 bought 5,000 buffaloes and goats.
03:57 >> Okay.
03:59 >> Imagine. >> So it's not just food, guys.
04:00 >> Yeah. >> It's also buffaloes.
04:01 >> And once they bought 120 cartons of Panadol.
04:04 Who does that?
04:05 >> Yeah. >> But these are like,
04:07 anything that they can buy, they will buy against postage checks.
04:11 But before the check is in cash- >> Sorry, but
04:14 when they're buying all this stuff in bulk, are there no eyes on them?
04:18 Is there no one controlling this?
04:20 >> No, well, they're legitimate companies.
04:23 They are buying things.
04:24 >> Okay. >> And the goods are delivered to
04:26 a warehouse.
04:27 So if I'm buying it from you and you're delivering goods from a warehouse,
04:31 it's a proper setup.
04:32 >> Right.
04:33 >> But before your check is in cash, I shut down the warehouse.
04:37 I shut down my office.
04:38 I shut down all my phones.
04:40 And anyone who's part of the company just vanishes.
04:43 Now, when you go to the bank, your check is bounced.
04:46 They say, my God, what's happening?
04:48 You rush to the company, everyone has disappeared.
04:51 You go to the warehouse, it's shut down.
04:53 >> Yeah. >> So what these guys do is that
04:57 they find warehouses which they can get for rent for 15 days, 20 days.
05:01 And another emirate.
05:03 So overnight, they'll move all this stuff to another warehouse.
05:07 >> Right. >> So there is no trace left.
05:09 You don't know where this stuff has gone.
05:11 >> They've been ghosted.
05:12 >> They've been ghosted.
05:13 In the meantime, the MD of the company,
05:18 whose name was on the trade license, he has already left the country.
05:21 So when you go to the police as the traders have gone,
05:24 they have, who do they prosecute?
05:27 >> Right. >> It's all they are left with
05:28 are a bunch of debt checks.
05:30 >> But my question, the first thing that pops up is,
05:33 why wouldn't the providers of the products,
05:37 why wouldn't they just do a 50% upfront at least payment?
05:41 Or just take a little bit of, kind of a cautionary tale.
05:44 >> They have done that as well.
05:46 But even if you give 50%.
05:48 >> Still wouldn't.
05:49 >> You still lose everything.
05:50 >> Account for 200,000 avocados that they're transferring.
05:55 >> They were like tons of meat as well.
05:57 >> Yeah. >> Cherries, tomatoes,
05:58 onions, oil, I don't know how many liters of oil.
06:01 >> I just want to show everyone how it looks like on the page so
06:03 that you can go and do your own reading here.
06:05 >> And these are actual pictures from- >> From the actual transfer.
06:09 Interesting, okay.
06:11 All right, great.
06:12 And where else can people find your stories,
06:14 Muzar, because this is exclusive stuff.
06:17 >> Well, mostly on the Khalil's website.
06:18 >> Website.
06:19 >> And we have been doing this for many, many years, such scams.
06:22 And it is sad that it keeps on happening.
06:24 The best way to avoid is to always do your due diligence,
06:28 not deal with postage checks, use cash payments.
06:33 >> Yeah, and the thing is you can't really trace a warehouse or
06:36 anything because they are going to have an actual address.
06:40 But you shouldn't depend on that, don't depend on that.
06:42 >> The best thing would be to see when the website was set up.
06:45 >> When it was set up?
06:46 >> Yeah, and where's the domain name registered.
06:48 >> Okay. >> So that's a dead giveaway.
06:50 So in many cases, the website is set up three, four months back.
06:53 So you know that the company is dodgy.
06:55 >> Yeah, yeah. >> But these guys are so
06:56 smart, what they also do is they take over existing companies.
06:59 Suppose the company has been running around for ten years.
07:02 So you know the company has some credibility,
07:04 it's been in the market for ten years.
07:06 Now if the company is running for ten years, I am the scammer,
07:09 I go to the owner and say, look, take X amount of money.
07:13 Now hand the ownership to me.
07:16 >> Yeah. >> I become the owner, but
07:17 the company is there for ten years.
07:19 >> Right, okay.
07:20 >> So it has some credibility.
07:21 >> Has some credibility.
07:22 >> But the ownership has changed.
07:24 Now these people go out in the market and execute the scam.
07:26 And they do it with such brilliance, it's amazing.
07:29 >> Wow, all right.
07:30 Well, you don't wanna give them too much credit.
07:32 [LAUGH] You guys are smart, but not that smart, cuz Muzhar's onto you.
07:36 All right, thank you so much for being with us today.
07:39 We can't wait to see what the next story is going to be.
07:43 >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much, guys.
07:44 We'll see you in the next one.
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