A brokerage firm, Gulf First Commercial Brokers, operating in Dubai defrauded investors millions of Dirhams and disappeared almost overnight. Read on how the firm pulled off this movie-like plot
A brokerage firm based in Dubai has reportedly disappeared overnight, taking millions of investors funds away with them. The brokerage firm Gulf First Commercial Brokers' office, located in Suite 302 and 305 of the Capital Golden Tower in Business Bay, now stands completely abandoned, with nothing but a trash bin and a mop left behind.
According to a Khaleej Times report, around 40 employees had been operating from this location until last month. Now, the space is deserted, phone lines have been disconnected, and millions of dirhams have vanished without explanation.
Several Indian investors have also fallen victim to the fraud. Indian expatriates Mohammad and Fayaz Poyyl jointly invested $75,000 through the brokerage firm, and now they are left flustered. "I came here looking for answers, but there's nothing, no one. Just empty offices. We called every number, but no one responded," said Fayaz, as reported by Khaleej Times. "It's like they never existed."
Gulf First Commercial Brokers lured clients by promising "guaranteed safe returns" on forex investments and funnelled them toward Sigma-One Capital, an unregulated online trading platform. Despite claiming to be registered in St Lucia and operating from an office in Bur Dubai, Sigma-One had no legitimate license or physical presence in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The process typically started with cold calls from the firm's call centers. Once investors showed interest, they were assigned "relationship managers" who spoke their languages, built trust over time and then pressured to invest more.
An investor who lost over $230,000 (844,777 dirhams) to Sigma-One Capital told local reporters that Gulf First assigned him a relationship manager who spoke his native language, Kannada, and promised high returns.
"The platform showed small profits at first, and I even withdrew some money — just enough to build trust," the investor recalled.
As confidence grew, so did the pressure to deposit more money. "Then the pressure started. They blocked withdrawals and pushed me toward riskier trades while demanding more deposits," the investor said.
As more funds were deposited, the platform began restricting withdrawals and displaying unusual trades in obscure or fake assets.
"He kept urging me to invest more while the trading platform began displaying irregularities. It even showed trades in obscure or non-existent assets like 'wheat.spot' — a discovery I made much later."
Desperate to recover losses, he drained his financial resources. "I used credit cards, bank transfers, even my wife's savings," he admitted. "Each deposit was supposed to be the last."
Dozens of victims are now in financial ruin. Many are facing lawsuits from banks or creditors, having borrowed heavily to invest. Some say they now receive daily calls from lenders, while others are left questioning how such a scheme went unnoticed by authorities for so long.
This case has raised urgent questions about investor protection and regulatory oversight in the UAE, especially when it comes to unregulated platforms and offshore entities.