Dubai: Tourist targeted 5 times in 5 days exposes nightclub billing scam
A scam nightclub billing scam, five times, five days, for a Canadian tourist named SY. He’d read our expose on the scam, so he wanted to tell his story and put a stop to it. SY recouped Dh7,000 and even gave another victim back Dh4,000.
It’s a fake profile scam, where women pretend to be men on dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble to entice them to luxury nightclubs in Dubai.
When they got there, the women would order high priced drinks with dates taking care of the tab. Charges have been Dh3,000 to Dh11,000 per victim, and scammers disappear or block victims on WhatsApp.
SY's story started December 3 when a woman called Bezan brought him to a Business Bay nightclub. "She got multiple drinks, I stayed with water and orange juice. "It was Dh7,000 plus when they called, and it was a bill," SY recalled. "She looked surprised, she said she didn’t know it was going to cost so much. So I did believe her and I threw in the dough, obliged and humiliated.
SY had gone on a date with another woman, Jasmine, who recommended they meet at a bar in Emirates Financial Towers on December 4. SY had the only order for one drink per person but the bill was still Dh650. "I wouldn’t give a single cent above my Dh70 juice. Jasmine got angry but I wasn’t," he said.
By December 6, SY test-driven Bezan to come back for another date, a beach getaway. She didn’t want to go, and said to meet in another bar. "She was ordering drinks all the time so I asked him under the table for the bill. It was already Dh3,000," SY added. A stern fight later, the staff caved and offered him only Dh35 for his water. "You could tell she was on the club payroll and wouldn’t have contributed," he added.
Later that day, SY went to the business bay nightclub manager and got Dh2,500 back. The 13th of December he got another Dh4,400.
7th December SY saw Jasmine again. She insisted on visiting the same pub to ‘round them out’. When SY wouldn’t, she drove him to a different bar run by the same management. She took orders, he said no. So, when the bill came to Dh1,000, SY refused to pay and was told to leave.
SY also had a third woman, Razan, that night, who took him to a nightclub in a hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. When he didn’t order anything or even pay for his date, the bar owner told him to leave. "Clearly the women partner with these bars to take advantage of customers," SY added. ‘They will try to scare you, make you think you are going to be caught if you don’t pay, but it is not. You can’t just stop charging people for things you didn’t order".
Inspired by his experiences, SY had some sounding board for others: "Send back what you ate. If the bartenders say you should call the police, fight back and don’t let them intimidate you". Another victim was also saved Dh4,000 by SY, who saw his story on Reddit.
Since that first report, more victims have been reported. A man told me that he was conned of Dh5,000 and another had his Dh5,000 amount refunded to him in Dh800. Forums such as Reddit brim with tales of people being dragged into clubs and sent home with massive bill.
‘These women are definitey working for the clubs, earning maybe a commission,’ said a hotelier who knows the racket well. We’ve seen it in Europe and Asia, and now Dubai." -Picture by Darren Harris.
Comments