A 33-year-old Indian man in Dubai has been robbed of Rs 55,30,806 by a gang of four women after being lured into a fake massage parlour through a dating app, according to a media report.
The case was heard at the Dubai Court of First Instance, the Gulf News reported.
According to court records, the victim, who was not identified, saw an offer for a massage session for 200 Dirhams (Rs 3,950) with pictures of beautiful girls promoting it.
He contacted the number provided on the app and went to an apartment in the Al Refaa area of Dubai in November 2020.
“I saw four African women inside the apartment…They asked me to open my bank’s application [on my mobile phone] and transfer money. They threatened me with a knife at my throat and slapped me on the face,” the report quoted the victim as saying.
One of the women then took his credit card and withdrew 30,000 Dirhams (Rs 5,92,586) from an ATM. He was kept confined in the apartment for one day as the women transferred 250,000 Dirhams (Rs 49,38,219) from the victim’s bank account to other accounts, the report said.
“They allowed me to leave the apartment only after they took away my iPhone too. I alerted the bank and reported the incident to the police,” the victim said.
According to Dubai Police, three Nigerian women were arrested from Sharjah after intensive investigations, while a fourth woman is still at large.
“One of them admitted to luring the victim through the Tinder application, offering massage services and using pictures of beautiful women. They kept the victim locked up inside the apartment and wired the money from his account to different accounts outside the country,” said a policeman.
The three Nigerian defendants have been charged with robbery, issuing threats, keeping the victim forcefully confined inside an apartment and prostitution.
