Dubai: A gang who duped victims into illicit sex has been busted in Saudi Arabia.
The 11-member gang, led by a woman, used social media applications Tango and Kick to trick potential victims into meeting women in a private apartment, said a spokesperson for the police in the Medina region.
“The victim is lured by a female member of the gang to a rented flat where he is welcomed by a woman,” Fahad Bin Amer Al Ghannam said. “The hostess then sits next to him and starts talking with him. Suddenly, a male member of the gang storms into the room and starts beating up the victim, claiming he is the woman’s brother. The victim is stripped of his clothes and is photographed naked. The aggressor takes all the money in the wallet and then forces the victim to divulge the codes for the credit and debit cards,” Al Ghannam was quoted as saying by Saudi daily Okaz on Monday.
While the victim is kept locked in the room, a female member of the gang takes the cards, withdraws cash from the ATM and uses the credit cards to buy mobiles and jewellery, the spokesperson added.
The victim is afterwards coerced by the men posing as the woman’s brothers to write and sign a confession that he had entered the flat to have illicit sex and that he would not repeat his mistake and would not report what happened to him to the police.
The gang reportedly had three apartments that they used to lure their victims and play out the blackmailing scenario.
The spokesperson warned young people from being lured into any compromising situation by social media and urged them to exercise the highest levels of caution.
He also asked people who rent out their apartments to strangers to abide by the regulations and rules to ensure there is no abuse.
