Sharjah court acquits Indian expat jailed after rental fraud by brokerage
A Kerala-based villa owner was wrongfully convicted in absentia for a rental scam run by a real estate firm. Sharjah court granted full acquittal after his defence proved no involvement.
Indian expat cleared by Sharjah court after brokerage misused his property documents
An Indian expatriate from Ernakulam, Kerala, has been fully acquitted by a Sharjah court following a wrongful conviction linked to a rental fraud scheme he had no part in, onmanorama.com reports. The man, an executive at a Dubai firm, only learned of the case against him when immigration officials detained him at Dubai Airport as he was about to board a flight to India.
The victim co-owns a villa in Sharjah with his father. To find prospective tenants, the family provided a copy of the property's title deed to a local real estate brokerage — strictly for advertising purposes. No authority was given to the agency to sign tenancy agreements or collect rent on the owners' behalf.
Brokerage pockets AED 104,000 in rent
The agency exploited the documents to target a woman seeking to rent the villa. She was instructed to transfer an annual rent of AED 104,000 directly into the brokerage's company account. To make the transaction appear legitimate, the scammers sent forged confirmation messages from a fake email address crafted to closely resemble the villa owner's genuine contact.
After ten days, the tenant still had not received access to the property. She filed a formal complaint with the police, and a case was subsequently registered against three individuals — including the property owner, whose documents had been misused throughout the scheme.
Convicted without knowledge
Because the fraudsters had submitted false contact details in the case file, the villa owner received no police summons and was unaware of any prosecution proceedings. A court handed down a judgment in absentia: one year in prison followed by deportation. He discovered the conviction only when detained at Dubai Airport.
Taken into custody on the spot, the expat's father moved quickly to secure legal representation. Senior Legal Consultant Adv Shamsuddeen Karunagappally of Ayesha Al Dhaheri Advocates & Legal Consultants took on the case and obtained temporary bail.
Defence argues ownership alone proves nothing
The defence team appealed the verdict, arguing before the Sharjah court that owning a property and providing title deeds for promotional use does not amount to participation in fraud. Crucially, the prosecution could produce no evidence linking the villa owner to the financial transaction or to any act of deception.
The court accepted the argument. Finding zero evidence of the owner's involvement, the Sharjah court overturned the conviction and issued a complete acquittal.
The case highlights the risks faced by property owners in the UAE who share documentation with real estate intermediaries without formal, written restrictions on how those documents may be used. Legal consultants in the region have previously advised owners to ensure any handover of title deeds is accompanied by a limited, clearly scoped power of attorney.
Source: Google News UAE — Courts & Fraud