A Doha Criminal Court has sentenced two Nigerian men to 10 years in jail and subsequent deportation for being involved in an online scam.

The court also fined them QR200,000 for the offence, according to local Arabic daily Arrayah.

The two defendants were convicted of running a fraudulent online firm and posting non-existent vacancies on behalf of real companies in the country without their knowledge, the daily reported.

The matter came to light when some job applicants contacted the head of a services department at a local engineering company, enquiring about some vacancies posted in the company's name on a website. The official told them that it had not posted any such vacancy announcements.

He then visited the website and found that his company's logo and information had been posted there, along with some vacancies, without its approval. Accordingly, he filed a complaint with the government department concerned.

The subsequent investigation led to the two defendants, who had allegedly collected big sums of money from job seekers and sent them forged documents - with fake government stamps and logos - online. The payments were made to them through a money transfer agency. While the first defendant received the money, the other person was the "owner" of the fraudulent firm.

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