A recent legal case has emerged in the UAE where a young Emirati woman from a respected family found herself scammed out of nearly Dh1 million by promises of a business investment and marriage.
The victim was duped after a man lured her into investing huge amounts of money by convincing her of a shared future together. What saved her in the end were mere WhatsApp chats.
It all began with trust, which led to the two collaborating on few projects together, where the defendant repeatedly promised marriage and a joint future, describing ventures that needed funding to get off the ground.
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Believing in those promises, and reassured after the defendant told her his own mother knew of his intention to marry her, the woman took out bank loans and financing in her own name and lent large sums of money.
She believed the funds would help raise his financial standing enough to formally propose, and that the money would later be returned to them both as agreed.
She later discovered that many of his claims did not hold up and she was soon left with heavy financial burdens alone, while he benefited from the funds. She also discovered he was already married, and had used the same method to deceive several other women.
With no written loan agreements in place, her only option was to take the matter to Dubai courts. The case rested on a trail of bank transfers and WhatsApp messages that took close to a year to assemble into a coherent legal file.
Legal consultant Ahmed Al Zarooni, who worked on the case, said the real challenge was turning scattered facts, messages and bank transfers into a complete, well-supported legal file capable of proving the truth before the court. Chat records, transfers and documents were gathered and cross-checked by date and amount to reconstruct the full picture.
The court found the dispute required technical expertise and referred it to an accounting and banking expert to examine the transfers involved. The expert’s findings confirmed the man had received substantial sums from the woman that he was not entitled to, traced through WhatsApp conversations, direct bank transfers, and a WhatsApp message in which he apologised for what had happened, putting the amount owed at close to Dh1 million.
The court ultimately ruled in her favour, ordering the man to repay close to Dh1 million, in addition to compensation for damages, legal interest, litigation costs and legal fees.
Al Zarooni said the most decisive piece of evidence was not a bank statement or paper document, but the WhatsApp conversations between the two parties, which included clear acknowledgements from the man that he had received the money and was committed to repaying it. He added that proof in such cases can even take the form of an implicit admission in the other party’s own words.
“This case carries an important message,” he said. “Trust alone is not enough in financial dealings. Documenting one’s rights and keeping records of correspondence can make the difference between losing a right and recovering it.”
Under Federal Decree-Law No. 35 of 2022 on the Evidence in Civil and Commercial Transactions, electronic correspondence, including WhatsApp messages, now carries the same evidentiary weight as written documents, provided its authenticity can be verified.
Al Zarooni added that many people wrongly assume the absence of a written contract makes it impossible to prove a financial right, a misconception this case helped dispel.
Source: Khaleej Times