Man accused of posing as woman for internet scam

Dubai: A court heard on Wednesday that a salesman had been the victim of an internet scam and the ‘woman’ he had fallen in love was actually a man who wanted to extort money out of him.

The Indian salesman, N.K., met the man who claimed to be a Syrian woman called Kinda, on a social networking site in September 2013.

“We communicated for a while and then our relationship developed… so we decided to meet over dinner. ‘Kinda’ turned out to be a man who claimed to me that his brother was a policeman and threatened to take me to prison if I did not pay him Dh25,000,” the salesman testified to prosecutors.

A 20-year-old Indian student, D.O., who claimed to be Kinda, was charged with threatening to have N.K. handcuffed, locked up and then taken to the police station. He was also accused of extorting Dh5,000 out of N.K.

Prosecutors also accused D.O. of committing the same act with N.K.’s friend, S.M., who posed as someone interested in meeting Kinda on the same site as part of a sting operation.

The suspect entered a not guilty before the Dubai Court of First Instance on Wednesday.

“Why did you confess during prosecution and police questioning?” presiding judge Maher Salama Al Mahdi asked him.

“I did not do that. I’ve been in custody for nearly eight months and when I was questioned, I was asked to sign documents that were written in Arabic. I do not know what I signed,” replied D.O.

The salesman told prosecutors: “Kinda and I agreed to meet over dinner in front of Zabeel Park. I was waiting for a woman when the suspect showed up instead. The suspect claimed to be Kinda’s brother and he alleged that his policeman brother would have me busted for what I did with their sister. He showed me a handcuff and threatened to take me to the police station if I did not pay them Dh25,000. I told him that I could only afford to pay them Dh5,000 because my salary was only Dh4,000. He went with me to my workplace and I paid him the money. When I complained to the police, they ordered me to ask a friend of mine to contact the defendant on the site as part of a sting operation.”

Records said the friend, S.M., lured D.O. to meet him in Mankhool where he was arrested.

Presiding judge Al Mahdi adjourned the case until D.O. hires a lawyer to defend him on Wednesday.