The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

A 26-year-old African was arrested and referred to criminal court with other runaway accomplices, for luring a pilot through WhastApp by impersonating a woman, and robbing him of over Dhs19,000 in Dubai.

Official records indicate that the defendant and his accomplices have come up with an elaborate scheme of impersonating an American woman and luring the victim through WhatsApp in order to assault and rob him.

The victim testified that he was lured to meet that phony woman who asked him to visit her apartment for a cup of tea.

However, as soon as the victim arrived to the apartment, an African lady showed up and pretended that his date is awaiting for him in the living room.

The door was shut and the victim was suddenly attacked by four women and four men, who brutally beat him, stripped him naked, and stole his phone and credit card.

When the victim refused to give his credit card’s password, one of the female defendants grabbed a hot iron and threatened to burn him. After the continuous brutal assault, the scared victim was forced to give the credit card’s password, and an amount of Dhs19,454 was withdrawn and stolen by the gang.

Then the gang locked the victim in one of the rooms and fled the scene.

Police learnt about the robbery and assault incident and successfully managed to apprehend one of the defendants.