Dubai
A man has been accused of impersonating a famous footballer, tricking two women into getting engaged to him and swindling around Dh260,000.
The 29-year-old Emirati jobless man allegedly posed as a famous footballer of Al Ain Club on a matchmaking mobile app and cheated the women by talking them into giving him money in 2015.
A 36-year-old Emirati woman employee created an account on the matchmaking application as she was looking for a match to get married. According to records, when she communicated with the woman in charge of the mobile app, the latter hooked her up with the 29-year-old man, who posed as the footballer. The Emirati man was said to have communicated with the woman for a period of time before he promised to marry her.
The man talked the 36-year-old woman into starting up her own car-wash business and then convinced her to give him Dh247,000 to start up the project in the hope of securing their future.
According to records, the man also lured a 23-year-old Emirati woman to pay him Dh10,000 using the same modus operandi.
However the man’s tricks came to light when one of the allegedly duped women discovered through social media that the actual footballer from Al Ain Club got engaged. When the 23-year-old woman confronted the man, she realised she had been swindled.
When the woman complained to police, the man threatened to dishonour her and tell her brothers about their relationship.
Prosecutors accused the suspect of using deceptive methods, coning two women and embezzling their money. He was also charged with threatening one of the victimised women that he would dishonour her in front of her brother if she did not take back her complaint against him.
The suspect failed to show up before the Dubai Court of First Instance where he was scheduled to enter his plea on Sunday.
The 36-year-old woman told prosecutors she created an account on the matchmaking mobile app in search of a husband, but was conned.
“The app organiser provided me with the contact details of the suspect … initially he claimed to be Al Ain Club’s football star. He alleged to me that he fell in love with me and wanted to marry me. However, he claimed he wanted to secure our future … he talked me into paying him money to start a car-wash project. I paid him up to Dh247,000. Then I discovered that he had tricked me when I learnt that he was not the real footballer, who had announced his engagement on the social media. When I confronted him, I also discovered that he had duped my friend [the 23-year-old woman],” she testified to prosecutors.
The woman behind the matchmaking app claimed to prosecutors that the suspect repeatedly dodged meeting with the wife-to-be by claiming that a relative had died.
Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal will hand out a ruling in absentia against the suspect on January 22.
