Million-dirham trap: MFR property scam drawing to painful close

It's almost a year after tenants and landlords - both engaged in contractual agreements with real estate company MFR Properties - first came face to face.

It was not a pleasant occasion, as both were victims of one of Dubai's biggest real estate scams in years.

MFR Properties, which was eventually shut down by the Dubai Land Department, followed a subletting scheme. They would let property from the owner against four cheques, and then sublet it for lower amounts against one cheque.

By the time landlords wanted to encash their second or third cheque, the company had insufficient funds and the MFR cheques bounced.

Meanwhile, tenants had paid their annual rent in one cheque to MFR and demanded they be let to live in the property for a year. Landlords said the rental cheques had bounced, and anyway, the property was not rented out to the tenants, so they had to leave.

Landlords and tenants - both duped by the scam - were left to fight it out while MFR' management were imprisoned or fled.