Dubai Court Orders $468,332 Repayment Following $803,000 Crypto Phishing Scam on X

According to a report by Emirates 24|7, the Dubai Civil Court of First Instance has ordered a defendant to return $468,332 worth of digital currencies, or its equivalent in UAE dirhams, to a victim targeted in an online phishing scam. The court additionally awarded the plaintiff Dh50,000 in moral damages, down from the Dh250,000 initially requested alongside the recovery of his lost capital.

The case began when the plaintiff accessed a malicious link on the social media platform X that impersonated a reputable digital asset platform. After following the prompts and inputting his credentials, the victim discovered that his full digital wallet balance—valued at approximately $803,000 at the time of the offense—had been withdrawn, prompting him to report the theft to Dubai Police.

Investigators from Dubai Police's Virtual Assets Crimes Unit tracked the stolen tokens through multiple decentralized wallet transfers and successive cryptocurrency swaps. The digital trail culminated in assets valued at roughly $468,332 at transaction time settling into a centralized trading account registered under the defendant's name. A forensic inspection of the defendant's mobile phone confirmed installed crypto-trading applications and correspondence with the exchange platform.

Public prosecutors previously brought criminal charges against the defendant for holding illicit funds and conducting unlicensed virtual currency transactions. While the criminal Court of First Instance initially imposed a six-month prison term alongside asset forfeiture, fines, and deportation, the Court of Appeal reduced the jail term to one month while maintaining the remaining penalties. Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings, the civil court ordered the defendant to repay the $468,332 identified in his possession.