A man has been ordered by the Al-Ain Court of First Instance to pay AED 300,000 to a woman he defrauded of AED 250,000 via an Instagram business scheme.
Details indicate that the victim and the accused became acquainted on a social media site. The con artist, according to her, pretended to be an Emirati who owned several commercial enterprises.
He offered her a stake in those businesses in exchange for AED 250,000, which she borrowed from someone and transferred to him.
She subsequently filed a police complaint against the accused after discovering that she had been duped and that the scammer was not an individual from the UAE as he had represented himself to be. The court consequently ordered the con artist to reimburse the stolen money and pay AED 50,000 in damages.
It is important to note that popular tourist areas are frequently hotspots for con artists, so locals and visitors are urged to exercise caution at all times.
The Dubai authorities previously detained an Asian for defrauding a business of AED 52,000 in a similar incident.
