Tourist who set up online massage meet at Dubai hotel room robbed at knifepoint by criminal gang

An unsuspecting tourist was lured to a Dubai hotel room by the promise of a massage from a blonde woman he met online only to be robbed of all his cash at knifepoint by a gang of cyber criminals.

Dubai Criminal Court heard that three Nigerian tricksters, a man and two women aged 37, 27 and 26, snared the victim by starting a social media account using the image of a blonde woman who offered him a massage.

The victim, 21, from Saudi Arabia, went to a hotel room in the Al Rifaa area of the city and asked for the mystery blonde before one of the offenders pushed him inside and the other two burst out of a bathroom.

The incident took place on September 14 of last year.

The man tried to escape but was beaten up by the male offender, who pointed a knife at him and threatened to 'slaughter him'.

The complainant said: "He pushed me to the ground, gagged me, repeatedly punched my face and threatened to slaughter me before they all stole my cash and belongings.”

Records showed that the male assailant acted as a bodyguard for the two women who worked in the sex industry, and that he often forced clients to pay.

Both women fled with the victim’s Dh1,200, iPhone, charger, passport and ATM card and left their accomplice with the victim, whose screams alerted hotel security staff members.

Police were contacted and the man was apprehended. Both women were arrested a few days later.

In court last March, all three defendants denied charges of robbery and confinement. The man admitted facilitating prostitution while the two woman admitted working in prostitution.

The trio were sentenced to a year in prison each to be followed by deportation.