Job seekers: beware!

Geeta D., the Sri Lankan woman, cheated hundreds of people by charging them $3,000 on the cause of providing them employment in the UAE. She is been hunted now. It is said that an Arab man and his Filipina wife is also assisting her in the fraud.

While sixty of them have reportedly been sent to some Arab country, the remaining are left abandoned in Umm Al Quwain, without a penny in their pocket.

The husband of the Sri Lankan woman is currently lodged in a Dubai prison after he was convicted in a similar fraud.

Country Coordinator of Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau S.A. Zain said that the Sri Lankan consulate in Dubai was aware of the fraud case and so far, travel documents for nineteen of the people, who are left stranded, have been issued. The official said that in order to finalize the travel details of the workers, the consulate will contact the UAE Immigration authorities.

According to the information available, Geeta collected photocopies of passports and $3,000 from each of the job-seekers, after she visited Sri Lanka this year. Geeta D. allegedly framed herself as a partner of an investor, who has multiple projects running in UAE. The job seekers were received by Geeta after they arrived in Ras Al Khaimah on the 11th of May. They were then taken to traditional villa in Umm Al Quwain. Geeta collected their passports at the villa and din not handed them copies of visit visas.

After a few days, she arranged a travel for sixty of them to an Arab country, the name of which is unknown. The remaining of the job-seekers was left in the Umm Al Quwain without any resources. On the 20th of July, all the stranded men were arrested by the Umm Al Quwain Police on account of violation of residency laws. However, they were released after ten days.

A watchman at the villa helped the stranded people to contact their families in Sri Lanka and as a result ticket money was send to a number of them by their families. The Sri Lankan consulate in Dubai was also alerted by some of the families.

According to the Umm Al Quwain Police, the stranded people were released from custody following the arrangement of their tickets by the travel companies.

Sri Lankan consulate is following up the investigations in coordination with Dubai Police and Umm Al Quwain Police.