DUBAI // A jobless Emirati posed as a famous football player looking for a bride online to defraud two women out of money they thought was going to build their future together, Dubai Criminal Court heard on Sunday.
The 29-year-old defendant did not appear in court to face charges of fraudulently obtaining Dh257,000 from two women, and with threatening to defame one of his victims if she did not drop charges against him.
Prosecutors said that last year the man pretended to be Al Jazira defender Mohammed Fawzi, who played for Al Ain at the time, on a messaging application while chatting with a woman whose job was to arrange marriages.
“The woman provided me with his contact [details] and told me he was looking for a wife, so I contacted him and after a while he convinced me, to secure our future, that he needed Dh247,000 to start a business, so I gave it to him,” said one of the women, a 36-year-old Emirati.
The second woman, 31, said that she was also given his number and she contacted him.
“We agreed he comes to ask for my hand in marriage but every time he didn’t come, saying that some family member died,” said the woman.
She added that he asked her for money and she gave him Dh10,000.
The women said they discovered he was a con artist when they read news of the actual football player getting married.
The 31-year-old reported the defendant to police, after which she said he started threatening to defame her and tell her family that she had an affair with him so she would drop charges.
Prosecutors said the man confessed to all charges during interrogations.
A verdict is expected on January 22.
salamir@thenational.ae
