A man was allegedly conned out of AED26,000 and had to endure embarrassment on what was meant to be a very special day in his life.
The Indian man was all set to get married in a five-star hotel in Dubai.
However, on the day of the wedding, the bridegroom was baffled to learn that the hotel had no idea about the booking he had made to celebrate the big day.
The man claims he was duped by an Australian acquaintance of Lebanese origin who took AED26,000 from him, promising to book the hotel on his behalf at a special discount but instead pocketed all the money.
The 35-year-old told Gulf News, "Imagine my shock when I showed up at the hotel in Jumeirah all dressed up and was informed that there was no booking under my name. I called the acquaintance several times but he kept making excuses saying everything was on track. But they weren’t, so I had to call off the wedding. It was a big fiasco and it left me terribly embarrassed before my 150 odd guests. On my wedding day, I had to call them and cite ‘technical reasons’ for the cancellation of the event. Obviously, I couldn’t contact all of them and many did show up at the venue only to return angry and disappointed."
Not only the man had to face embarrassment, but he also had to quickly find another venue for the event.
The man, who is a real estate developer, is considering filing a police complaint against the man who allegedly conned him.