DFSA Investment Fraud Investigation Leads To Arrests

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

21 February 2007

Following the Dubai Financial Services Authority's (DFSA) investigation into an internet fraud in Dubai, the Malaysian Securities Commission in Kuala Lumpur has made three arrests and frozen US$350,000, after finding a secondary account linked to the fraudsters.

Two were released and one person is currently being questioned by Malaysian authorities. These actions were taken by the Malaysian authorities directly to assist the ongoing DFSA investigation.

The actions relate to the fraudulent investment scheme targeting Australian and Singaporean investors who were cold called by representatives of Cambridge Capital Trading, a fictitious London firm. Investors were directed to websites called the Dubai Options Exchange and a fictitious regulator, the UAE Commodity Futures Board. Cambridge Capital Trading asked investors to transfer funds to a bank account in Malaysia, upon becoming a client of the fictional exchange. The perpetrators took great care to construct realistic websites, electronic answering services and a bogus facsimile in the UK to fool investors and to conceal their identities. The DFSA has confirmed that the billing address for the websites is also false.

Civil court orders obtained in the Dubai International Financial Centre Court before the Chief Justice Sir Anthony Evans have now been served on the internet service providers in the USA and Malaysia. It is expected that the websites will be closed down shortly with the cooperation of the internet service providers.

The DFSA is continuing its investigation, working jointly with ESCA and Dubai Police and its counterparts in the United Kingdom, USA, Australia and Malaysia.

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