ABHA — A Saudi man allegedly swindled 50 of his compatriots during the past six months by promising them housemaids. The culprit had opened a fake recruitment office for the purpose. Abdullah Al-Ghamdi said he paid SR8,000 out of SR16,000, including visa fees for a Filipina housemaid. He was promised to receive the housemaid within a month and when he approached the office he found it closed with no one in sight. He asked around in the neighborhood only to be told that the culprit had shut the office down. Abdullah Ali said he paid SR8,000 for a housemaid and when he returned in two months to the office he found it was closed. He tried to contact the owner but he was unreachable. Asir Police spokesman Abdullah Bin Thafran said the office was in Al-Khaldiyah Street in Khamis Mushayt. Many of the embezzled clients reported the man to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and had to resort to the police for lack of cooperation and response from the ministry.
