By Mohammad Al Sadafy

Sharjah Police’s Criminal Investigation Department on Thursday said it had arrested a gang targeting UAE residents by luring them to transfer credit to their mobile phones because they had won a big cash prize.

The 20-member Pakistani gang used to call residents in the UAE, claiming that they work for a local telecommunication company and that they have won cash prize worth hundreds of thousands. But in order to collect that prize, the caller used to ask resident to transfer certain amount of credit to him.

Lieutenant Faisal Bin Nassar, Deputy Director at the Criminal Investigation Department of Sharjah Police, said the accused used to ask people to transfer between Dh5,000 to Dh10,000 to collect the award.

The 20-member gang, which was living in two apartments in Al Nahda, Sharjah, used different SIMs to rob people and then discarded those SIMs.

Lieutenant Faisal said police seized a number of mobile phones and cash from the accused’s apartments.

After confessing to their crimes, the gang members said they used to sell victims’ credit balance to others at lower rates.

Police asked public to inform authorities about such incidents.

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