Investors who put money into Dizabo, a UAE e-commerce app, say payments stopped in 2023, cheques bounced and the founder became hard to reach. The most detailed public account is a Khaleej Times investigation published on 31 October 2024 and updated on 17 November 2024. It reports investor accounts and allegations, and it records the founder’s denial. It does not establish how much money was lost, how many people were affected, or where the legal cases stand today.
What happened, as reported
According to Khaleej Times, Dizabo was marketed as an e-commerce “super app” launched in September 2021, with plans to connect vendors and customers across 22 product categories. The newspaper reported that the company had an office in Deira and a team of about 80. These details come from the newspaper’s reporting. They have not been checked against an audited company filing.
The reporting says payments to investors stopped in 2023. Investors told the newspaper that cheques they had been given bounced and that they could no longer reach the founder. The newspaper also reported that investors organised and pursued legal action, and that at the time of its publication the company’s assets and bank accounts had been frozen and its office shut by the Department of Economy and Tourism. Those are the reported conditions in late 2024. They are not confirmed current facts.
The offer investors described
Investors were offered arrangements tied to delivery assets, not a conventional share or fund. The example the newspaper described was an initial payment of Dh43,000 for five delivery bikes, backed by six post-dated cheques of Dh10,000 each. The pitch was presented as an 80% return over six months, turning Dh43,000 into Dh60,000. A larger offer involving four delivery vans was also described.
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The reported figures do not reconcile with each other, and the reporting does not explain the gap:
| Reported item | Figure | Source and status |
|---|---|---|
| Initial payment for five delivery bikes | Dh43,000 | Khaleej Times, 2024; a reported example, not a verified transaction |
| Post-dated cheques in the example | Six cheques of Dh10,000 each, totalling Dh60,000 | Khaleej Times, 2024; reported cheques, and investors said some bounced |
| Promoted return | 80% over six months | Khaleej Times, 2024; a sales claim, not a guarantee |
| Target amount in the example | Dh60,000 | Khaleej Times, 2024 |
| Implied gain in the target amount | About 40% (Dh17,000 on Dh43,000) | Calculated from the reported figures |
| Value if an 80% return had been paid on Dh43,000 | About Dh77,400 | Calculated from the reported figures; not stated in the reporting |
Readers should treat the 80% claim and the Dh60,000 target as two separate sales figures, not as a verified return. The arithmetic alone is a reason to ask an offer for its exact payment schedule and return basis before committing money.
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How many people were affected, and how much was lost
The newspaper said the exact number of affected people was unknown. It relayed insider estimates that the number could be in the hundreds and that losses could run into millions of dirhams. Those are attributed estimates. No audited or official count of investors or losses has been published in the reporting reviewed here, so no total loss figure can be stated. The individual examples in the article describe particular investors’ amounts and do not add up to a total.
Investor accounts
Investor Zubair Mahmood told Khaleej Times about the personal effects of his reported loss: “My life is a daily struggle. My mother needed surgery for cancer, and we had to sell our ancestral jewellery to pay for it.” This is Mahmood’s account as the newspaper published it. It has not been independently corroborated.
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The founder’s response
Founder Abdul Afthab Pallikkal denied wrongdoing in WhatsApp messages to Khaleej Times. He said he had “done nothing wrong” and that Dizabo was “a unique product, unlike any other in the global market.” He described the company as a startup that faced unexpected challenges.
He also said Dizabo was owed Dh18 million by restaurants. The newspaper contacted nearly a dozen restaurants from a list he supplied, and none confirmed owing Dizabo money. The founder’s claim and the newspaper’s follow-up are separate points, and the reporting does not resolve the question between them.
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Legal and asset status: what remains unverified
The 2024 reporting describes court cases and an asset freeze, but it is not a current court-status report. As of this writing, the reviewed material does not establish any of the following: the outcome of the court cases, whether any repayment order has been issued, whether the frozen assets have been released or used, or whether any investor has recovered money. Readers should not assume the situation reported in late 2024 still holds in October 2026.
The reporting makes allegations. No court has been shown to have found the founder guilty of fraud, and this article does not say otherwise.
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How to check a UAE investment company before you pay
The Dizabo case does not show that any single check would have prevented losses. It does show which questions the reported facts make it reasonable to ask. Use these steps for any company that asks you to invest or pay in advance.
- Get the legal name and licence details in writing. Ask for the trade licence number, the issuing authority and the registered address. Then compare the office you visit with what is registered.
- Check the business identity on official services. The UAE Government portal lists several ways to check a business licence, including the National Economic Registry and emirate-level services. A result confirms what the register shows at that time. It does not confirm how the company will operate.
- Match the product to the right regulator. The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) regulates virtual-asset services in and from Dubai, except within the DIFC, and publishes a register of licensed providers. Check it only if the offer involves virtual assets. The Capital Market Authority announced a virtual-assets framework on 13 April 2026, describing five modules and eight regulated activities. That is general context, and it does not place Dizabo’s offer under that framework.
- Ask how the money is paid back. Compare the promised return with the payment mechanism. In the Dizabo example, repayment depended on post-dated cheques, which investors later said bounced.
- Look for a licence status change. A Central Bank rule says a licensee whose licence is suspended, withdrawn or revoked under the cited provision must immediately stop taking money from customers. Whether that rule applied to Dizabo has not been established, so the rule is useful only as a general reference for what a status change should mean for new deposits.
What the reporting does not establish
- The total number of investors or the total amount lost.
- Whether Dizabo held any licence to take investor money.
- The current outcome of the Dubai court cases, any repayment orders, and the status of the frozen assets.
- Whether the restaurant debt the founder described exists.
- Whether any investor has been repaid.
Anyone affected should keep records of payments, cheques and messages, and seek legal advice about the status of their claim. The 2024 reporting is the most detailed public account reviewed here, and it should be checked against current court and regulatory information before relying on any present-tense statement.
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