Do you know how many zeroes are in dirham one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand?“
The voice on the phone is mocking, almost amused.
”Did I force you to invest the money?“
”Yes, you did!“
”Then come and take it, you #%&!“
The conversation spirals into a barrage of expletives and threats.
The once-persuasive broker now sounds menacing, his words thick with hostility. Khaleej Times has an audio recording of the three-minute call, capturing how a man who once promised riches now hounds his client with verbal abuse.
But it wasn’t always like this.
When Imran Zaman, a civil engineer in Dubai, first heard from DuttFX in September 2024, it wasn’t threats but charm that filled the airwaves. The “relationship manager” was friendly, almost familiar. The conversations started with market insights—volatility in the wake of US bank collapses, golden opportunities in commodities, and whispers of massive dividends. Saying no wasn’t easy.
And so, Imran invested. Then he invested more. Until he had lost Dh180,000.
He wasn’t alone. Shishir lost Dh80,000; Nalini Dh52,000; Pravin Dh45,000. There are many more. Most of them took bank loans or maxed out their credit cards, lured by the promise of a “highly secure trading environment”.
Yet, none of them had ever set foot in a DuttFX office. Not because they didn’t want to—but because no such office exists in the UAE. The same is true for other companies like EVM Prime Support, which operate solely through websites and cold calls.
Keralite Mohammed Ayeshan, who lost Dh36,500 to EVM Prime Support, was led to invest purely based on phone conversations. His “relationship manager” convinced him to make an initial deposit of $1,000 (Dh3,673). Over time, he was pressured into adding more funds, lured by the illusion of smooth trading and small early profits.
“I kept adding funds as instructed, believing I could recover my money.”
Ayeshan said he borrowed on credit cards, hoping to recover losses. But the losses only deepened. His relationship manager instructed him to reverse trades, which only made things worse.
“Overall, I have lost everything. I am in severe depression, and my health has suffered.”
Nalini, 59, another victim, had a similar experience. For years, she had ignored cold calls from forex brokers, but when a man named Abhimanyu persisted, she decided to test it with Dh1,000.
He set up an account for her, providing a login and dashboard where she could monitor trades.
“Even when I travelled to India, he kept in touch, guiding me through trades in euros and dollars. Later, he pressured me to invest in gold and silver. I refused at first, but he is very good at convincing,” recalled Nalini.
Abhimanyu assured her withdrawals were possible at any time, which gave her confidence to invest in three instruments—wheat and two currencies.
But when her margin dropped, he warned that her account would be wiped out unless she deposited more funds.
”My balance was at -$7,000. Panicked, I deposited another $7,000 and took the opposite trade, believing it would help. But my balance plummeted to -$26,000, and my positions were locked. Now they’re telling me to invest even more money to save my account,“ she said.
Familiar playbook
The scam follows a familiar pattern. First comes the cold call—friendly, reassuring, and filled with financial jargon. Victims are persuaded to deposit an initial amount, often around $1,000, just to “test the waters”. To build trust, brokers allow small withdrawals, reinforcing the illusion of easy access to funds.
Then, the pressure starts. “You’re doing great—why stop now?” The so-called relationship manager pushes investors to increase their deposits, steering them toward “golden opportunities” in forex, commodities, and crypto. They emphasise that withdrawals can be made at any time.
But that’s the lie. As deposits grow, so does the manipulation. Brokers pressure victims into high-risk trades, claiming it’s the only way to “protect profits”. Soon, they find themselves locked out—unable to withdraw funds, execute trades, or even contact their brokers. Their money is gone.
Investigations show that these companies exist in the UAE in name only, leaving defrauded investors with no one to hold accountable. When Khaleej Times called the cellphone of Fatima, the purported relationship manager of EVM Prime Support, a woman named Sanjana answered. She confirmed that they operate from Dubai.
However, when asked for a physical address and told that a reporter would visit, the call was immediately disconnected, and no further calls were answered.
A similar attempt was made with Abhimanyu, the so-called relationship manager of DuttFX. When called, a man answered claiming he was not Abhimanyu. But when a call was placed from a different number, the next day, the same voice now claimed to be Abhimanyu. When confronted, he backtracked, saying he was just a namesake and had no connection to DuttFX. After that, no calls were answered again.
For investors who have lost their savings, recovering money is nearly impossible. Without a registered entity in the UAE, victims have no legal recourse. Complaints to Dubai Police and other authorities have been filed, but with these firms lacking a physical presence, tracing them remains a challenge.
And it’s a challenge authorities have faced before.
In one of the biggest forex frauds to hit the UAE, Sydney Lemos, the owner of Exential Forex, promised high returns through currency trading, luring thousands of expatriates into what was later exposed as a Dh1 billion Ponzi scheme.
By the time the scam unravelled in 2017, families had lost their life savings. Lemos was sentenced to over 500 years in prison in Dubai—yet despite this landmark case, fraudulent forex platforms continue to thrive under different names.
MMA Forex, operating from Al Nahda, and UT Markets, which relied on WhatsApp to target investors, followed a similar playbook. Like Exential Forex, they enticed victims with guaranteed returns, only to vanish when withdrawals were requested. It’s a long list.
Alpha Bull, which operated until a few years ago, vanished without a trace, leaving investors stranded with no way to retrieve their money. Despite repeated scams, new firms keep emerging under different names, running the same deception. More recently, Acme Consultancy and BlueChip, both operating from Al Jawhara Building in Bur Dubai, shut down overnight, taking millions of dirhams with them. There’s an arrest warrant out for BlueChip owner Ravindra Nath Soni. Today, the names may change, but the scam remains the same.
With no refunds in sight, many victims are now banding together to file collective complaints, hoping for legal intervention.
Expert warnings
But experts warn that recovery is rare—and prevention is the only safeguard.
Nigel Sillitoe, CEO of Insight Discovery, warns investors about the risks of dealing with unregulated trading firms:
“It is deeply concerning that numerous unregulated online trading and forex investment companies continue to operate in the UAE. Investors must exercise extreme caution when approached by such firms, as many rely on cold calls and aggressive marketing tactics to lure individuals into fraudulent schemes.”
Sillitoe stresses that UAE has over 40 regulated brokerage firms, and there is no reason to take unnecessary risks with companies operating illegally.
Even legitimate financial institutions aren’t safe from fraudsters.
Last year, scammers impersonated Equiti Group, a well-known global fintech firm, to dupe investors. Among them was Dubai celebrity Lojain Omran, who unknowingly became the face of the scam.
The UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) eventually issued a public warning, clarifying that MRL Investments, operating under equiity.com, was not licensed and had no affiliation with Equiti Securities Currencies Brokers LLC (ESCB LLC).
The real Equiti Group, which even has a Dubai Metro station named after it, was forced to disassociate itself from the fraudulent scheme.
“As financial markets evolve, so do scams,” said Brian Myers, Chief Commercial Officer of Equiti Group. “Traders should stay vigilant, verify broker legitimacy, and avoid platforms that operate without clear oversight. It always makes sense to undertake some due diligence before investing.”
Yet, despite high-profile arrests, public warnings, and repeated scams, the cycle continues.
Regulators warn, victims speak out, and yet new firms emerge—offering the same false promises under different names.
Until decisive action is taken to shut down these operations before they resurface, investors will continue to fall prey to the same deception—just under different names, say industry experts. For now, vigilance isn’t just an option. It’s the only defence.
*For privacy reasons, some victims’ names have been changed.
Mazhar Farooqui
Mazhar Farooqui, also known as Maz, is a multiple award-winning investigative journalist and Senior …More
