Man ‘blackmailed woman he met on Facebook into sending him Dh7,300’

DUBAI // A man threatened a woman he met on social media and blackmailed her into paying him US$2,000 (Dh7,300), Dubai Criminal Court heard.

On February 15 this year, Dubai Police received an email from a woman in Gaza claiming she had been threatened and blackmailed by an Egyptian living in Dubai, prosecutors told the court.

She said in her email that she was in a relationship with the 27-year-old after meeting him on Facebook.

After they began chatting on Skype, she sent him pictures of herself using WhatsApp.

The woman said that on January 16 she allegedly received a threatening message from the defendant in which he told her to wire him money or he would post her private pictures online.

“I sent him $2,000 but he asked for more and gave me until February 22 to pay, so I decided to report him,” the woman wrote in her email to Dubai Police.

Police said they were able to find out where the man worked but were told he had been -arrested after fighting with one of his colleagues.

He was later found at his residence and questioned by police.

“He confessed to me that he did threaten and blackmail this woman,” said a 29-year-old Emirati police officer.

The defendant’s laptop and smartphone were seized and referred to the criminal laboratory, which found several chats between the defendant and the woman, as well as a receipt for a money transfer.

The Egyptian denied the accusation in court, telling judges he had reached a settlement with the woman.

“I don’t know why this case is in court and who filed it, because I settled with her,” he said, before showing the court printouts of a chat he had with the victim.

Dubai Criminal Court did not accept the papers and ordered him to obtain an authenticated waiver of the charges. The next hearing will be on April 25.