From blondes to gangsters: How dating app scam works in Dubai
In July, Dubai Police busted 20 gangs and arrested 47 people behind the racket
Khalid, a 40- year- old Dubai- based engineer, had goosebumps as he walked down the dimly lit hallway of a sixth- floor hotel apartment in Dubai.
As he knocked on the door of flat 606, he thought about the beautiful blonde called Maria, who he had befriended on the Tinder dating app. After a few Whatsapp chats, she had asked himto meet her at this flat.
As the door opened, Khalid saw that the apartment was dark, with only a dim light in the living room. He heard a woman’s voice asking him to enter, claiming Maria was waiting for him inside. On his guard now, Khalid felt movement behind the door and sensing danger, hemade a hasty exit.
Khalid was lucky. He later realised that he had nearly fallen victim to a gang using online dating platforms to lure men and loot them.
Avisitor’s nightmare
In another case, a Spanish visitor told a Dubai court that he went to see a Brazilian woman, who he befriended on Tinder, but ended up being stripped naked, threatened with a knife, beaten and robbed in an apartment.
The 36- year- old man was assaulted by a gang of three women and three men from Nigeria. They stole his credit cards and used it for different purchases worth Dh19,552.
On June 25, an Indian man on Tinder made a deal with a blonde European woman for a Dh500 massage. She asked him to come to a hotel apartment. A Nigerian woman opened the door and guided him inside the dark flat.
“As soon as she closed the door, three other women and two men appeared, asking me to hand over my wallet. They stole Dh600 and two credit cards, tied my hands and forced me to give the PIN. They withdraw Dh33,600 from my bank account,” he told Dubai Court of First Instance.
‘ Her namewas Fiola’
In April this year, a Nigerian man and his countrywoman created a fake account of a girl and named her Fiola. They projected her as an American national masseuse based in Bahrain. A 72- year- old Jordanian man fell for the ploy and exchanged phone numbers.
The Nigerian woman kept chatting with him through WhatsApp until June 5 when she told him that she was in Dubai and wanted to see him.
When the man entered the flat he was asked to come to, the two criminals dragged him into a roomand beat him. They stole his mobile phone and Dh3,000 in cash.
In July, Dubai Police nabbed 20 gangs who robbed victims using dating apps. Brig Jamal Salem Al Jallaf, Director of Criminal Investigation Department, said that the 47 suspects included 10 women and 37 men froman African country.
Dubai Police release video
Dubai Police have released an educational video, showing how aman is robbed using dating apps. Lawyer Wageh Ameen Abdulaziz from the World Centre Advocates and Legal Consultant, told Gulf News that people shouldn’t accept friend requests from strangers.
He pointed out that illegally withdrawing money from credit cards carries a punishment of at least a year in jail and a fine of between Dh200,000 to Dh1 million.