On Wednesday, a UAE-based man of Arab descent was arrested by Abu Dhabi Police on allegations of creating dating scams, according to Gulf News.
In a bid to pull money out of men on social media - especially Snapchat - the 30-year-old posed as different women, asking men to send him a 500 dirham ($136) advance to book a date, reported Brigadier General Tariq Khalfan Al Ghoul, Deputy Director of Abu Dhabi Police's CID division.
As the time for the meet-up came, the conman never made an appearance.
Director of the CID at Abu Dhabi Police, Colonel Jumaa Al Kaabi, pointed at numerous complaints sent to the electronic crimes department, in which people claimed to have become victims of "electronic fraud."
"A security plan was immediately put in place, and an order was issued by the Public Prosecution to arrest the suspect," said Colonel Al Kaabi, according to Gulf News.
After the arrest of the accused, police found "a collection of smart phones, false names of women, indecent photographs, and video clips."
Abu Dhabi police working on protecting residents from online fraud
Recurrent cases have been happening in the emirate, which pushed Abu Dhabi police and the Government of Abu Dhabi to launch an online awareness campaign - for the whole month of April - for residents to keep an eye on messages of scammy nature.
The campaign includes animated videos of young girls helping their grandmothers recognize fake prize messages on WhatsApp, posters with "be cautious" written on them, a number to text (2828), a number to call (8002626), and report frauds.
The emirate used Arabic, English, Urdu, and Filipino as languages to target diverse nationalities residing in the UAE.
UAE's Cybercrime laws keep frauds in check
It's not only impostors who the police go after in the UAE. Anyone who doesn't respect the new Cybercrime laws in the emirates will receive fines, sentences, or will be subject to deportation orders.
Over the past few years, numerous residents and visitors found themselves in deep trouble because of the content they posted on their social media accounts, which infringes the UAE's Cybercrime laws.
An incident from two years ago involving an Emirati woman who was fined 500,000 dirhams ($136,130) for cursing her uncle and a historic Muslim scholar in a WhatsApp conversation went viral.
Last summer, an Emirati man posted a photo on Instagram only to be met with an insulting comment from his own brother. The latter was fined 250,000 dirhams ($68,062) and received a three-month jail sentence under the UAE's Cybercrime laws.