In yet another shocking case of financial fraud in the UAE, Gulf First Commercial Brokers, a Dubai-based brokerage firm, has reportedly shut down overnight, leaving behind empty offices and millions of dirhams in vanished investor funds. Many of the victims, including Indian expats, are now demanding answers after being lured into the scheme through aggressive cold-calling and promises of secure returns on forex investments.
The firm operated from two office spaces in Capital Golden Tower, located in Dubai’s Business Bay. Until just a few weeks ago, around 40 employees reportedly worked there, cold-calling potential investors and pushing them toward high-return forex trading plans. Today, both office spaces lie abandoned dusty floors, disconnected wires, and no trace of the firm’s once-booming operation.
Security personnel at the site confirmed the company’s hasty exit. “They returned the keys, cleared everything out, and left like they were in a hurry,” a guard told Khaleej Times. “Now we have people coming daily asking about them.”
Indians Among Victims of the Multi-Million Dirham Scam
Among those defrauded are Kerala expats Mohammad and Fayaz Poyyl, who invested a total of $75,000. “I came here looking for answers, but there’s nothing, no one. Just empty offices,” Fayaz Poyyl said, describing his visit to the ghosted workplace.
Another Indian investor, Sanjiv, said he was tricked into shifting his funds to Sigma-One Capital, a suspicious online platform that Gulf First aggressively promoted. The company reportedly used both names Gulf First and Sigma-One interchangeably to lend credibility to the fraudulent operation.
Mohammad, who invested $50,000, said, “They claimed Sigma-One and Gulf First were the same. I was convinced through phone conversations and pressured to keep adding more money, lured by early profits and ‘secure’ trading.”
Unregulated Platform and Police Action
A formal complaint has been filed with Dubai Police against both Gulf First and Sigma-One. Investigations revealed that Sigma-One Capital is not licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) or the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). The company falsely claimed it was registered in St. Lucia and had a Bur Dubai office in Musalla Tower a location where authorities found no record of its existence. Officials now believe Sigma-One operated entirely without oversight, deceiving hundreds of clients into parting with their savings under false promises.
The scam follows a troubling pattern of previous financial frauds in the UAE, such as those involving DuttFx and EVM Prime. In each case, victims were drawn in by cold calls offering “safe trading platforms” and impressive returns. Many took loans or maxed out credit cards based on the fake success stories sold to them, only to discover they’d been duped once the companies disappeared without a trace.
As the investigation continues, victims are urging the authorities to increase regulation, crack down on unlicensed entities, and issue stronger public warnings to protect future investors. For now, dozens of hopefuls many from the Indian community are left with little more than unanswered calls and emptied savings accounts.
