Filipino woman accused of selling forged e-visas in Dubai

The Cayan tower in Dubai. AFP FILE PHOTO

A Filipino woman in Dubai has been accused of selling forged electronic visas to a fellow Filipino who wanted her mother and sister to visit the United Arab Emirates capital.

A report by Gulf News said the 25-year-old Filipino travel consultant, with initials of C.C., embezzled the cost of the forged visas amounting to Dh6,100 (P71,041) from the travel agency.

“C.C. was cited admitting to prosecutors that she forged the visas and kept the money for herself,” the report read.

The report also cited the testimony of the Filipino woman to whom the forged visas were sold: “I asked her to book two-way tickets for my mother and sister and to issue them visit visas. I provided her with the documents that she requested and paid her Dh6,100. In January, the defendant emailed me photocopies of the visas and claimed that she sent the original to the Philippines.”

The accused was scheduled for an initial hearing before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday, but the report said she was not brought by her jail wardens from her detention. The court is set to reconvene next week.

Gulf News also said it was not the first time that the Filipino woman was accused of selling fake visas.

“In the other case C.C. admitted in court that she embezzled Dh64,000 through forging e-visas. She confessed that she printed out a number of authentic tourist visa forms [obtained from Dubai’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners’ Affairs online system], made photocopies and tampered with the tourists’ details on them before sending them to potential tourists,” the report added. TVJ