CHENNAI: A woman has approached city police claiming she was cheated of Rs 5 lakh by a person who sent her messages from the verified Twitter handle of a Prince of Dubai.

Police officers said the woman had shown to police the private conversation she had with the Twitter account of Dubai prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Police suspect that a hacker had cheated the woman by using the Twitter account. 

Hemalatha’s* (name changed) complaint says that the sequence of incidents started when she received a private message in January from the Prince’s Twitter account (@HamdanMohammed). 

A Chennai native, Hemalatha is a psychologist and had lived in Dubai for a few years. Because of this, she was following the verified Twitter and Instagram handles of the King of Dubai and Vice president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and one of his sons, the prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

“Overwhelmed by the attention she got from the Prince, the woman was conversing for few days and felt that they had a very good rapport,” said a police officer who registered a case and is now transferred to a different wing.

A person, who is suspected to have posed as the King, soon offered Hemalatha a job in the palace of the prince since she was a psychologist and she was invited to meet him for royal lunch. “Hemalatha informed the prince that she will be visiting him by the end of January.

The person then said she has to pay Rs 5 lakh to get the entry card for the palace. She transferred money through Western Union. Soon after this, there was no more message from the account,” said a police officer who handled the case.

Only when she went to Dubai in person and was denied entry to the palace she realised that she had been cheated. The palace security staff told her that several people had approached them with similar messages. Hemalatha later complained to the Indian embassy in Dubai as directed by Dubai police.

As per the advice of Indian embassy officials, she lodged a complaint with Central Crime Branch (CCB). To support her claim, the woman has submitted her conversation with the verified Twitter handle.

The case was initially handled by the cyber crime wing and now with the job racket wing of the crime branch. Since the Twitter account of the Prince had been active, police suspect whether his direct messages alone were hacked and utilised to con people.

The victim had told police that when she posted her ordeal in social media, many replied saying that they too were similarly cheated. Chennai police officials said they have also sought clarifications from Twitter.