Dubai Police have issued a warning to social media users about the rising threat of ‘romantic fraud,’ urging people to be cautious while engaging with strangers online.
Colonel Saeed Al Hajri, Director of Cybercrime at Dubai Police, highlighted the growing number of such scams and shared a shocking case where an elderly European woman was deceived out of 12 million dirhams.
According to Emirates Al Youm, Colonel Al Hajri, while speaking on the podcast ‘Arab Cast,’ revealed that the fraud was orchestrated by an African man who exploited the victim’s loneliness.
The scammer, posing as a respectable and charming young man living in Dubai, gained the woman’s trust and convinced her to transfer her life savings to him.
The deception came to light when the woman traveled to Dubai to meet the fraudster, only to discover that no such person existed at the given address.
Upon realizing she had been scammed, she reported the incident to the authorities. Investigations by the Dubai Police Cybercrime Unit revealed that the fraudulent social media account was being operated from Africa, not Dubai.
Colonel Al Hajri warned that numerous fraudsters operate on social media, preying on financially stable and emotionally vulnerable individuals. He advised users to be extremely cautious about sharing personal information online, as scammers often exploit emotional connections to carry out large-scale financial fraud.
Dubai Police continue to crack down on cybercriminals and urge residents to report suspicious activities to prevent further incidents of online fraud.