The First Group

I trusted them but after paying over 74 percent for a property, I realized they used a fake contract and did not sell any property to me. They have rebuffed all efforts I made to get them refund my money and gone to the extent of blocking any attempt by me to seek redress.
In a nutshell, TFG used false pretense (deception) to steal my money and they are determined at all cost to keep my money illegally and immorally. Stealing is a terrible act, but it is more terrible if after being caught stealing, you insist you must keep the stolen money and deprive the owner. That is robbery, which is a very reprehensible conduct.
My experience suggests that The First Group is a criminal organization masquerading as real estate company and conducting themselves as if they are above the law.
Apart from putting their victims in bad situation, their criminal activities will cause serious damage to the reputation of Dubai and UAE as more victims continue to share their experiences. It could erode confidence of investors and tourists.

In my previous reviews, I narrated how The First Group (TFG) used fake contract (Sales and Purchase Agreement) to receive payments in pretense for "selling" a property to me. After sharing my experience on this platform, they attempted to dubiously use a fake "Settlement Agreement" to consolidate the fraud.
The First Group is operating a dubious enterprise, which is against the purpose of the license granted them by Dubai and UAE authorities. They use the success and reputation of Dubai to assure people of investment safety. However, once a person invests and make payment to them, they deploy various dubious tactics to seize the invested money.
You purchase a property, but you have no official or legal link to it because TFG deliberately ensured that the contract is not registered with the relevant agency as required by law. This enables them to "sell" the same unit of property to many people with none having legal claim to the property, except if one buyer has been officially and legally registered. They claim to do rental management on your behalf and tell you funny stories why you are not getting income.
They have established a strong network of legal and institutional arrangements that helps them avoid being held to account by law enforcement, administrative and judicial institutions. They intimidate their gullible victims with the courts while using dubious arrangements to avoid being taken to the court. Most (if not all) of their victims are non-UAE residents who were visiting Dubai on tourist/visiting visa in addition to those they meet at their makeshift outlets in other countries, mostly airports. They deliberately target these group of people because it is easier to deny them access to law enforcement and judicial processes.
The dubious activities of The First Group have the following implications:
1. Damage to their own brand. This is obvious from the reviews. In addition, each reviewer has a chain of relatives, friends and associates that spreads the message through informal wide-ranging relationships. I don't know if TFG have any long-term business ambition, but it appears they don't appreciate the value of reputation and goodwill.

2. Other Dubai-based Companies will be affected. Both the victims of TFG and those who become aware of TFG's dubiousness will be discouraged to do business not only with TFG but other companies as well, including those who do decent business.

3. Reputational damage for Dubai. Undoubtedly, Dubai has established international reputation for very good practices, which is why most of us trusted but became victims of TFG. As victims of TFG continue to grow and share their experiences, more and more people will become skeptical about visiting or doing business in Dubai.
4. Degrading the Rule of Law. To the best of my knowledge, Dubai has strong law enforcement mechanism with very strong police as well as sound and reliable judicial system. However, if TFG can avoid being investigated and held into account as well as preventing its victims from reaching the court, there is possibility that other dubious people will adopt TFG strategy. If people who feel cheated find it difficult to avail law enforcement and judicial path, the purpose of the rule of law is denigrated.

The First Group is deep neck into this dubious business and appears to feel they are above the law; hence they are not ready to repent and follow legal, moral and honourable path.
I suggest that we (the victims) form an association to discuss how to bring the attention of the Dubai and UAE authorities about the damaging implications of the dubious activities of TFG and request investigations and refund of our monies fraudulently taken by The First Group.

The First Group reported my previous review on another platform claiming that my allegations are baseless. I summarize my issues with The First Group as follows:
1. The First Group deceived me with a fake contract of sale of property in August 2014. After paying 74.4% of total sale price (6 out of 9 installments), I discovered I don't have any official and legal link to the property.
2. I made several efforts to get them return my money, they refused, and continue keeping my money up till now without any moral and legal justification.
3. As I make efforts to seek legal redress, I realized they have invested in a strong network that block victims from seeking legal redress, hence they feel they are above the law. That is why they don't care about the complaints of their numerous victims.
4. Ironically, they threatened me with a court action in 2016 to seek judgement from Dubai court to seize my money and be forced to pay remaining 3 out of 9 instalments without getting the property. When I replied to accept the court process, they backtracked because they know their fraud will be exposed at the court.
5. When my first review was published on Trustpilot platform in August 2019, they contacted me by email on 26 September 2019 and offered a "Settlement Agreement" to give me the property and replace the contract with a new one (their own admission that the existing contract is fake).
6. I replied on 3rd October to request that the process of the "Settlement Agreement" follow legal process of Dubai and UAE laws. They replied that their legal team will review.
7. A decent company will follow a lawful process on its own. A moderate indecent one will accept and change to a legal process when reminded. Instead, the legal team of The First Group is reviewing continuously without end to decide whether to follow the law or not.
8. The existing fake contract did not follow legal process, that is why I have no official or legal link to the property. Why do they want to replace it with another fake contract? The "Settlement Agreement" they offered had a clause that prevent me from using any other means of resolving dispute except the Dubai Court.
9. Their game plan is to trick me to sign and use the clause to prevent me from seeking redress because they have a fence of immunity that blocks any attempt to file a case against them at the Dubai court, "above the law" status as I mentioned in (3) above.
10. Obviously, the "Settlement Agreement" was meant to consolidate their continued hold on my money while I am restricted from doing anything about it including the sharing of my experience on this platform. They adopted a never-ending review of a request to follow the relevant laws to come up of new tricks of deception.
11. When I realized their review will never end, I sent my own proposal for settlement by email on 10 October 2019, comprising a full refund of my money (not negotiable) and a discussion to agree on compensation (negotiable). No response from them up till now.
12. The bottom line is they are still holding on to my money for more than 5 years (6 years coming August 2020) without attachment to any property or investment and without any moral and legal justification. Thus, they used inappropriate and illegal means to deprive me of my own money for almost 6 years.
13. They have now adopted a strategy of blocking reviews to prevent sharing of experiences by their victims. From all indications, The First Group is not ready to repent and change to a moral, ethical and legal path.
This is a summary of happenings between The First Group me since August 2014. The full details are voluminous and potential for book publication. I have documentary evidence to support all my assertions. I continue to seek redress from all possible options.

In my two previous reviews, I explained how TFG is using the reputation of Dubai and other methods to deceive people to invest with them and immediately after payment, becomes victim of fraud. They actually don't sell property, they take the money and use all sort of tricks, including legal intimidation to stretch and force victims to surrender their money. I used to be wondering how anybody could have any good experience with them until I saw an analysis that the positive reviews about them are largely fake. So they are orchestrating fake reviews as one of their several methods of deception.

In my own case, I have established beyond reasonable doubt that they took my money without selling any property to me. For more than five years, I have been requesting them to return my money but they refused. They have tried all their tricks on me but I refuse to surrender my money to them. Now, they have run out tricks yet refused to return my money. Stealing is a terrible act but it is more terrible if after being caught stealing, you insist you must keep the stolen money and deprive the owner. That is robbery, which is a very reprehensible conduct. I have been pursuing various measures and still ongoing.

Based on my experience and the reviews I have read about them, The First Group appears to be a criminal organization masquerading as real estate company and conducting themselves as if they are above the law. THE FIRST GROUP IS A MENACE. Apart from putting their victims in bad situation, their criminal activities are capable of causing serious damage to the reputation of Dubai and UAE as more victims continue to share their experiences. It could erode confidence of investors and tourists. I read some of the reviewers stating that TFG's fraud spoiled their holidays and will never visit Dubai again.

How do we tackle the TFG menace? We (the victims) can come together and articulate our experiences into a strong petition to the ruler of Dubai to request for investigation and every victim given back his money and possibly, compensation. It is not easy to reach the ruler of Dubai but with collective determination, we will be able to crack the hard nut.

I posted a review on this site on 12 November 2019 titled "Unending Terrible Experience with THE FIRST GROUP". I had posted same review on another site on 29 August 2019 after which the social media team of TFG requested I provide my contact, which I did immediately (all same day).

On 19 September 2019, I got a phone call from Arthur Rangel, previous Compliance Manager and now Corporate Client Manager, expressing anger over the review I posted and but also said that he understands. He mentioned that they offered to give me the property unit they claimed to have sold to me without having to pay the remaining three instalments. He questioned my integrity for saying that I did not know about this offer before I posted the review. It was amusing to me that a TFG official will question my integrity. Anyway, I told him if the offer was in writing, there would have been no basis for any denial by anybody and integrity question would not have arisen. I then advised that he send the offer by email and I will respond to state my position.

I received the offer by email on 26 September 2019 in form of "Settlement Agreement" and requesting me sign immediately so that I can receive my past, current and future rental income. I acknowledged immediately and requested for time to consult. Exactly one week after, on 3 October 2019, I replied to accept the offer in principle but raised some points to be taken into consideration to ensure effectiveness of the "Settlement Agreement" and to achieve closure of the issue. The points were broken into six, but they concern three important principles as follows:

(1) The new SPA to be signed by us will be in accordance with the laws of Dubai and affirmed at Notary Public in Dubai;
(2) I will take full possession of the property with full rights of ownership including right to decide who or which company will do rental management on my behalf;
(3) Past rental income amount be included as a clause in the agreement with calculations attached as addendum.

Arthur replied immediately to say their Legal department will review. After one week without response from TFG, I concluded that their so called "Settlement Agreement" is fake and reminiscence of the proverbial poisoned chalice. It was meant to neutralize all my past and ongoing efforts to seek redress and making it difficult for me to initiate any process of redress in the future. For instance, the two most detailed clauses in the "Settlement Agreement" relates to preventing any party (of course me) from using any method/approach in case of dispute except the Dubai court. The key question is, if they are serious about settlement and closure, why are they anticipating dispute. I gave them one-week ultimatum and extended for another one week to refund my money and thereafter we negotiate compensation. They are yet to refund me.

Ironically, TFG is the one afraid of Dubai court not me because they know they are on the wrong side of the law. When I stopped instalment payment after establishing that the SPA was fake, they sent me a letter dated 3rd May 2016 threatening to go to Dubai court to get judgement to seize the instalments I paid without getting the property and in addition, be forced to pay all outstanding instalments. I replied to say that the SPA has legal validity question and it will be good for them to go to the Dubai court to enable me to explain my side of the story and I will abide by the judgement of the court. They did not go to the court up till today.

Rather, when I took my case to Dubai court through a law firm, they did all sort of things (I believe including threats) to prevent the law firm from going on with my case at the Dubai court. The law firm even refused to give me the legal report they requested on my behalf through the Dubai court even though I paid for the service. It took a harsh email before the law firm sent me scanned copies, they refused to send me the original copy up till now. I tried several other law firms and realized that TFG has built a strong network of legal and institutional accomplices that ensures that no case against them reaches the Dubai court. So, they use the court to intimidate their gullible victims while building a dubious barrier to avoid judicial accountability by the court. This is tantamount to making mockery of the legal/judicial system of the country they are licensed to operate and do business, which is VERY DANGEROUS.

The latest attempt by TFG to use fake "Settlement Agreement" is not too surprising. It is a proverbial case of a "A Leopard Never Changes Its Spots". For the past five years of seeking redress, I have obtained a lot of information about them. One of the several lawyers I contacted exclaimed when I mentioned their name and said: "They don't sell property, they sell papers". Even though I had already established that they did not sell any property tome but used a fake contract, that statement perfectly described my experience with them. I can also see that it resonates with many of the reviews I read about them.

The business strategy of TFG is VERY DANGEROUS, comprising of the following:

(i) They use the reputation of Dubai, promise good returns with assurance full refund if you change your mind and project famous personalities as their brand ambassadors. One of their brand ambassadors is Michael Owen, a former England footballer and now public commentator on football affairs.
(ii) Once a person agrees to invest with them and make payment, s/he becomes a victim of fraud. They will keep twisting issues and, in most cases, victims get frustrated and forego the money if the amount is not much (may be only reservation deposits). For some other victims, TFG put them in very difficult situation to make them concede some percentage of their investment as settlement. For some, TFG will use legal threat (as they did to me) and if the person is scared, will rather allow them to take the money. In some cases, they will insist they sell the property on your behalf at a loss to you and pay you the amount. What many of the victims do not know is that, TFG did not sell any property to them in the first place, they sold them papers and took their money. That is why many of the reviews I read is bout not getting returns or enough returns.
(iii) If a victim tries to seek legal redress, they use the legal fence I explained above, which I believe they maintain with the proceeds of fraud they get from their numerous and growing victims.

A lawless enterprise that operates in an environment that has developed a reputation for decency, preying on unsuspecting victims by exploiting the weaknesses of the system is a VERY DANGEROUS enterprise.

In my next posting, I will analyze the implications of the activities of The First Group to various stakeholders and why each of these stakeholders need to do what is necessary to tackle this VERY DANGEROUS criminal enterprise.