Hunt for Lankan woman who cheated job seekers

The hunt is on for a Sri Lankan woman, Geeta D., who allegedly cheated hundreds of people by charging each of them $3,000 on the pretext of providing employment in the UAE. An Arab man and his Filipina wife, too, are said to be involved in the fraud.

While 60 of them were said to have been sent to some Arab country, the remaining were left stranded in Umm Al Quwain, with no money to buy food or tickets for return flights home.

The Sri Lankan woman’s husband is currently lodged in a Dubai prison after being convicted in a similar fraud. S.A. Zain, Country Coordinator of Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau, in Dubai said the Sri Lanka consulate in Dubai was aware of the case and travel documents for 19 of the stranded people had been issued so far.

The official said the consulate would contact the UAE Immigration authorities to finalise the details of the travel of the workers, whose families had sent ticket money.

According to information available, on her visit to Sri Lanka in April this year, Geeta collected the photocopies of passports and $3,000 from each of the job seekers. Most of the job seekers were either from her own village or had come in contact through people known to her.

After getting the photocopies of the job seekers’ passports, she returned to UAE with the help of her two associates - the Arab man and his Filipina wife - she contacted several travel agents for arranging visit visas for those who had paid her.

Geeta D. allegedly posed as a partner of an investor, who had a number of projects running in the UAE. She submitted the documents and paid visit visa charges.

On their arrival in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah on May 11, the job seekers were received by Geeta and taken to a traditional villa in Umm Al Quwain.

At the villa, Geeta collected their passports and did not hand over copies of visit visas to the job seekers.

A few days later, she arranged for 60 of them to travel to an Arab country (name not known), while the remaining stayed on in Umm Al Quwain, but without any resources.

Khaleej Times