س: سيدي العزيز / سيدتي العزيزة، أخذ شخص ما في الإمارات أموالاً من أختي الموجودة بالخارج ووعدها بوظيفة في الإمارات. أرسل لها فيما بعد تأشيرة (تأشيرة زيارة تم تعديلها لتبدو وكأنها تأشيرة عمل) بالإضافة إلى تذكرة طيران مزورة. بعد أن دفعت أختي كل الأموال لهذا الرجل، لم تتمكن من مغادرة وطنها لأن التذكرة كانت مزورة. يدعي الرجل الآن أنه تعرض للاحتيال من قبل رجل آخر يشير إليه بالوكيل الحقيقي. أنا في الإمارات. هل هناك أي شيء يمكننا القيام به لاستعادة أموال أختي؟

س: أهلًا جميعاً، أنا مقيم في الإمارات، وتعرضت للخداع من قبل وسيط تداول عقود الفروقات يسمى (........) ومقره في المملكة المتحدة (يزعمون أن مقرهم في المملكة المتحدة). موقعهم معطل الآن وقاموا بحذف جميع وسائل الاتصال. ومع ذلك، وجدت أنهم استضافوا نفس الموقع على نطاق مختلف. لقد خسرت أكثر من 210 ألف دولار. كان إجمالي مبلغ السحب قريبًا من 500000 دولار. عندما حاولت سحب أموالي من المنصة، طلبوا المزيد من الأموال كدفع ضرائب وبعد أن دفعت هذه الأموال، استمروا في جلب مشكلات جديدة وطلب المزيد من الأموال. عندما رفضت طلبهم على الواتساب وأخبرتهم أنني سأبلغ الشرطة وأفتح قضايا ضدهم، بدا أنهم غير متأثرين بهذه الأمور. حتى أنهم قالوا لي أن أذهب وأبلغ عنهم ولم يهتموا. يرجى إعلامي بالإجراءات التي يمكنني اتخاذها ضد هؤلاء المحتالين. أنا حقًا لا أريد السماح لهم بالهروب من هذا الأمر بسهولة خاصة مع أموالنا التي حصلنا عليها بشق الأنفس. يرجى إعلامي إذا كانت هناك طريقة لاسترداد أموالي.

Q: Hi. My husband and I subscribed to a tourism package with a registered company in the UAE last Sunday. We signed a contract and paid an amount of AED 13999 for the package. We later decided that we want to cancel this subscription and get a refund. The exact clause that describes the cancellation policy is: “Subscription cancellation request received 7 days enrollment/payment date may be eligible to receive a refund after deducting 30% administration charges and cost of the utilized services if any.” It’s only been 3 days since we purchased it and we haven’t used any of their services yet. Their subscription fee is 13999 and we were not informed of a separate administration charge. They are not willing to refund. Isn’t it illegal to deny that right to a customer? Please help us sort this out. We’ve recently moved to the country and have been scammed of all our savings and money through a scam call as well. Thank you in advance for any guidance you can provide.

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, My father had hired an agency to handle his company's VAT returns and paid them on time for all the filings. However, the person took his money and fled. Now the office is closed, and he is not answering any calls. Please advise on what can be done.

Q: Hello, We have been scammed by an individual who did not provide the stated service. They took a lot of money and important documents. I have audio recordings of him talking about these things. We had a bad lawyer in Iraq who stole property by forging documents. This man said he had many connections to help us. While it was true that he had connections, he didn’t actually help us. Instead, he cooperated with the bad lawyer, agreed with him, and gave the bad lawyer all our important documents.

Q: I hired an agency to close my free zone company in October last year and paid them already. However, I have now been informed by the FDA that the company has not been closed, and I am required to upload a renewed license (which I do not have), otherwise, I will face a penalty. The agency I hired is not responding to my messages. What can I do?

An interview-format article covering the topic of bounced cheque scams in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

The new law is applicable to all entities dealing with virtual assets that are set up on the mainland as well as free zones, including special development zones. However, it does not apply to the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), which will have its own set of rules and regulations governing all virtual assets entities registered with the DIFC.

This Law promulgates the Federal Penal Code (Criminal Law) of the United Arab Emirates. Crimes and chastisement punishments shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other penal codes.

The provisions of this Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 Promulgating the Crimes and Penalties Law, known as the "New UAE Penal Code", governs criminal actions in the United Arab Emirates. The New Penal Code repeals the previous UAE Penal Code (Federal Law No. (3) of 1987 Promulgating the Penal Code).