Dubai: A suspect who stole another man’s photo and identity and used it on an online dating service has inadvertently ended marriage plans for the victim he was impersonating.
Dubai Police on Sunday said that the impostor used the stolen picture on a social network to date and chat with women.
The identity thief has been arrested but the victim faced more bad news when he learnt that his fiancee dumped him and halted wedding plans after family members mistakenly told her that her Arab fiance was all over the internet looking to meet women, police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Salem Bin Salmeen, Deputy Director of Cybercrimes Department in Dubai Police, said the victim faced really unfortunate circumstances.
“His fiance family discovered the account with his picture and name and she decided to separate despite the fact that he told them it wasn’t him,” Lt Col Bin Salmeen told Gulf News on Sunday.
Dubai Police identified the suspect who was also an Arab man and arrested him.
“He claimed that he wanted to stay anonymous and searched the internet for a picture of a handsome person to attract the girls and found the picture of the victim who doesn’t know him. He saved the photo and used it on a dating account on social network and start talking with women,” Lt Col Bin Salmeen said.
The suspect said he didn’t intend to damage the lives of the victim and he did it for fun.
Meanwhile, Major-General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police for Criminal Investigation Affairs, warned people for using others’ pictures for bad purposes saying police have the ability to catch them anytime and anywhere.
“Electronic crimes have many kinds like using the internet for fraud, hacking, blackmail and revenge between friends and families using social networks beside insult and defame crimes. People should be careful when putting their pictures on internet and use programmes to prevent hackers,” Maj-Gen Al Mansouri said.
The suspect has been referred to Dubai Public Prosecution to finish the investigation and police closed his account and deleted the picture on the internet.
