Is Doha becoming the safe area for fraudsters? Do you think police has to take this seriously?

More people, allegedly cheated by a fake firm that duped several Doha construction equipment suppliers, came forward with charges of fraud against the company.
Though initial reports suggested that the company cheated about 30-35 suppliers, sources told this newspaper yesterday that at least 60 persons had confirmed that they were duped by the said company in a period of about 40-45 days. However, the exact amount of money lost in supplies is still unknown even though one of the victims said it could be anywhere between QR 30 million and QR 50 million.
The person said his firm had supplied goods worth QR490,000 to the company after they made a local purchase order. The supplier said the order from the company was quite unexpected as the construction goods business was passing through a very bad patch.
“When the order for supplies came, it was like a windfall to most of the suppliers and that was why everyone latched on to it and rushed goods to the company’s sprawling Industrial Area godown,” recalled the businessman.
“Having seen their posh office and we never had any reason to disbelieve the company’s managers,” he said. However, businessmen like him realised their folly only when the cheques issued by the company to suppliers began to bounce last week.
Besides construction equipment, they also purchased large quantities of tyres from some local companies
However, one or two containers of tyres were returned to their distributors, seemingly because of their failure to meet the quality standards in the UAE, to which the company reportedly moved about 35 containers of goods.
Some other businessmen also suspect the fake firm had more associates than those against whom complaints have been lodged by the victims. A well-known home appliances dealer said more than two months ago their company was approached by a man for supply of electronic equipment worth QR 300,000.
“When he issued a post-dated cheque, I asked for a cheque signed by his sponsor. My inquiries with the bank found that the said account had virtually no transaction and had only QR 1500 as balance,” he said. The man did not surface again.
Similarly, reacting to the Gulf Times report, a senior official of a major mall said they too were duped by a similar group. He did not disclose the amount that his company lost in the deal.
Both the businessmen said the persons who had approached them for supply of electronic goods had an office in a newly built building on Airport Road. Besides they also have a main office in Reem Towers in West Bay.
About 15 victims of the scam, met Indian embassy officials yesterday. The mission officials agreed to take it up with the Ministry of Interior (MoI) as both the victims and the operators of the firm are from the community.
One of the affected businessmen said: “The ringleader of the scamsters frequently travels between Kerala and UAE,” he said.
The victim said he and others duped by the fake firm met the sponsor of the company and the latter assured them he would cooperate in the investigation. “One of his staffers who incidentally introduced the manager of the fake firm to the sponsor also agreed to provide information,” he said.