An Arab engineer who stole the smartphone of a Filipina in Dubai and attempted to blackmail her to establishing relationship with him has been given six months prison sentence.
The man, MM, 39, stole the iPhone of the Filipina victim, ER, 29, to gain access to her personal information. He then threatened to tarnish her reputation in case she refuses to agree to become his girlfriend, according to Gulf Today.
The suspect eventually demanded cash until the Filipina reported him to Al Rifa’a Police Station on April 9 last year.
The Criminal Court sent him to jail for six months, after which he will be deported. He filed for an appeal which was later denied.
Both MM and ER worked at a furniture and decorations company. On February 1 last year, ER left the office but when she returned she discovered her iPhone was missing. She later filed a report to the police.
Two days later, MM reportedly offered to help find the lost phone and sought for its personal identification number. The next day, ER was told that her phone’s status was “online,” indicating that it has been actively used. Three weeks later ER received an email which the sender, who was not identified at the time, told her he has access to all her accounts through her iPhone as well as her photos and video clips.
The sender then threatened to shame her in case she reports the incident to the authorities. Nevertheless, ER went to the police station and reported the matter. Detectives later found out that the sender was MM. Upon his arrest, MM pulled out ER’s smartphone under the spare tire cover in his car’s trunk.