A Canadian expat has been arrested in Dubai for a number of large-scale scams including a ‘Sharia-compliant’ cryptocurrency.

Self-styled entrepreneur, mentor and influencer

According to Gulf News, Aziz “Com” Mirza, a self-styled entrepreneur, mentor and Instagram influencer, is now languishing behind bars, after a UAE resident file a complaint with police in Dubai.

The complainant alleges that Mirza defrauded them out of $150,000, though that is likely just the tip of the iceberg. For example, it is thought that Mirza raised around $5.18 million with just one of his schemes, the ‘Leverage Programme (LP)’, targeting retail investors in the US, UK, Canada and Greece.

As for the ‘Sharia-compliant Habibi coin’ cryptocurrency, which Mirza called the ‘Bitcoin of the Middle East’, it is now utterly worthless.

According to alleged victims, Mirza used a blend of slick marketing and confident showmanship, to portray himself as a fabulously successful tech entrepreneur, claiming to be worth a staggering $500 million.

This enabled him to successfully persuade individuals to part with tens of thousands of dollars each in return for the promise of substantial returns.

A family affair

Schemes so far identified cover cryptocurrency, real estate and education, and it looks to be something of a family affair. It seem investors around the world wired funds to a Dubai-based company owned by one of Mirza’s brothers. While another of his brothers, Rafaqat “Rocky” Mirza, was hard at work conning investors via a UK-based platform called the ‘Muslim Entrepreneur Network’ (MEN).

It is though that at least 1,500 people fell for a single scam being promoted through MEN by Rafaqat Mirza, with each being pressured to invest over $6,000.

AYO.NEWS says:

From what we’ve heard about police and jails in that neck of the woods, we’re pretty sure Aziz “Com” Mirza is wishing he’d been arrested in the UK or US rather than Dubai! As the case is ongoing, we should always keep an open mind until all the facts have been aired, but it is clear things aren’t looking good for the Mirzas.

AYO.NEWS says features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited.