Thread: Beware scam gig

Ladies-
I want to share with you my recent experience so that no one else gets caught up in this psycho's scam.

I was contacted 3 weeks ago by a man on my facebook page trying to arrange for a dancer in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. He gave me a fantastic story about being a senior deputy of trade and that there was a trade show type event and his company/boss wanted to bring in a fresh dancer that no one had seen in the area. He saw my videos and pictures on facebook and a bellydance competition I was entered in and contacted me. He offered to cover my travel expenses and pay me $1700 for the weekend which included 2 performances one in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. He wanted a picture for flyers and posters and everything seemed legit. Then after a week he asked for my bank account to transfer money into for my travel expenses and a deposit on my commission. I refused and he offered Western Union. Every day he would call and tell me the money would be there in a couple hours and then every other day he would decide he was just going to get the ticket himself. Then he would tell me to check my email and all the arrangements would be there. Nothing ever arrived. Long story short I was supposed to be flying out tomorrow but by Monday still had no arrangements and couldn't get anything verifiable from my contact. Worrying about the legitimacy, my husband and I looked up his email address handle and found his real name was Ahmed Siksik. He had told me his name was Mohammed Al Khalil. We found his picture and handle on many websites that were over run with nasty sexual content. This was not a legit offer and if we had not done our homework, I fear what might have happened.
Just a warning to my fellow dancers. Research! Make sure offers are legit. Better to be safe and disappointed then to never come home.

Amira Star

Congrats to you and your husband for being careful. On behalf of all dancers - thank you for the information.

Originally Posted by txchic

Congrats to you and your husband for being careful. On behalf of all dancers - thank you for the information.

What she said.

Deborah

How awful this had to happen to you, Amira. So glad you didn't get scammed!

Thank god! You r safe. Thanks 4 telling this to us

how do you look up an e-mail address

Oh my this is scary! The things some people will do....

Originally Posted by rakgirl

how do you look up an e-mail address

I googled the first part of his email which was siksik79. It came up as his profile name and ID name on several sites. It might not always work but he used it a lot. I had asked him about it once and he said it was a family name, which did not make sense as he has already told me his last name was something very different.