JEDDAH, 18 November 2007 — Jeddah police are on a manhunt for a Saudi who reportedly cheated several schoolteachers out of large sums of money. The name of the suspect was given only as Al-Zahrani, which is a common last name.
Al-Zahrani’s latest alleged victim is Umm Fahd, a divorced schoolteacher from whose bank account he allegedly stole more than SR500,000, according to a police source.
Police believe the suspect’s modus operandi was to advertise in local newspapers that he was running a service establishment specialized in helping employees repay their overdue bank debts.
The suspect would disappear when anybody made a move to complain to police, the source said. He did not rule out the collusion of some bank officials in the cheating operations, but he didn’t name the bank.
Umm Fahd has accused Al-Zahrani of employing every form of fraudulent and corrupt trick to deprive her of her money. She said she came in contact with the suspect through an advertisement in a local newspaper. She decided to seek his help as she had no other means to repay her bank debt of more than SR160,000.
“He convinced me of his professional credibility by displaying dozens of ID cards and ATM cards deposited with him by his clients,” Umm Fahd said.
The suspect allegedly assured her that he would arrange to repay all her debts.
“The only thing I would have to do was to sign some documents that carried the name of an old local bank which no more existed,” she said. “Also, I put my signature on several blank papers.”
Later the man sent his wife, an alleged accomplice, to Umm Fahd to take her ID and ATM card to complete the formalities related to the transfer of the loan to Al-Zahrani’s establishment.
Umm Fahd claims Al-Zahrani then took out a bank loan in her name for SR578,639. The amount was first deposited in her account and later it was transferred to his account without her knowledge, she said.
