DUBAI // A student stole the social-media identity of another woman and bad-mouthed her to the woman’s fiance, a court has heard.
H A, a 22-year-old Emirati, hacked the Instagram and Kik Messenger accounts of B A and told her fiance, K A, that his wife-to-be went was previously engaged but it had been called off after she fell in love with her former fiance’s brother.
The student was charged at Dubai Court of Misdemeanors on Thursday with attempting to fraudulently obtain Dh30,000 from K A after pretending to be B A online.
She is also charged with posting statuses that were a breach of the privacy of the husband-to-be and his fiancee, as well as abusing technology.
The hacked woman’s father reported to police that his daughter’s accounts had been tampered with, beginning the investigation.
The student had been contacting the husband-to-be via the social-media accounts. She told him that she did not want a big wedding party and that she wanted him to buy her a red Bentley.
When the man contacted his fiancee and mentioned some of their previous exchanges, she told him that she had not sent any messages and that her accounts had been hacked.
Police asked the man to play along with the student so he chatted with her before she asked him for money.
“After I knew she was not my fiance she started talking badly about B A, saying that she goes out with many men and she was engaged before but broke the engagement because she fell in love with the brother of her ex-fiance,” said K A.
The husband-to-be said the student then asked him to buy her a bag that she liked, which cost Dh30,000, but she later asked him to just give her the money instead so she could buy it herself.
The man agreed to meet her and give her the money and when the student took the cash, police swooped and arrested her.
The victim of the hacking said she noticed an account she had on Kik Messenger had been manipulated and statuses were written on her behalf without her knowledge.
“She replaced the nickname I had on the account profile and wrote my full name and noted that I was married to K A, while I’m not yet,” said B A.
The student denied the charges but was convicted and fined Dh10,000.
salamir@thenational.ae
