Johnny Smith halted applications for the 150 packing assistance posts he posted on LinkedIn late last year.
The naive recruits employed by Max Star Trading LLC performed their purpose: pack, weigh, and load millions of dirhams in stolen items into containers that have since vanished, along with Smith and the entire Max Star Trading LLC crew. That’s because Johnny Smith was a fictitious character. Ahmed Ali, Javed Malik, Rana Khaleel, and Yaswant were not either. The identities were only a few of the many aliases that the conmen utilised.
Using a similar tactic, the scammers phoned hundreds of UAE and international companies, asking to acquire everything from food and electronics to industrial equipment and building materials.
The first orders were tiny and easily paid for in cash. Max Star then made big purchases using post-dated checks after gaining confidence. They all turned out to be duds.
When their checks began to bounce, the traders went to Max Star’s office on Khalid Bin Waleed Road’s UBL Building. It was already too late. A visit to their warehouse had the same result. The things had either been sold to other parties for cash or relocated.
This is not an isolated incident.
Max Star is not the only firm preying on unwary traders. Seven Emirates Spices and Ultimate General Trading, both dubious companies, have also closed their doors after committing a similar fraud, the former as recently as last month.
Only this time, the loot pile is more substantial: Avocados worth 500,000 dirhams from Colombia, Ethiopia, and Tanzania; cherries worth approximately 92,000 dirhams from Turkey; onions worth 210,000 dirhams from India; coconut husks worth 62,000 dirhams from Indonesia; palm oil worth 78,000 dirhams from Malaysia… It’s a big list, and it’s growing as more victims come forward.
