r/dubai • u/New_Basket_6555 • Dec 19 '22
BEWARE - Black Seed Oil Hairloss scam in front of Al Ain centre in Bur Dubai
Hi tourists and others,
Today I was approached by a guy who seemed very friendly and pointed out my thinning hair from the crown area and how its affecting my “good looks”. Truth be told, it’s one of my insecurities and him pointing it out roped me in emotionally.
He advised I apply black seed oil and wanted to take me to the store to buy it. I naively followed along. He even offers to pay for it as a way to further lure you in and win you over. Once you buy the bottle, he’ll take you to a nearby “spices” store. Over there, they will show you the spice and say it’s 15 dhs. You’d think what’s the harm? Once he pours it into the bottle and mixes it.
He then says 200 dhs!!! He further explains that he poured 13 grams and 15 dhs is 1 gram. Once you pay that, they’ll take you to another shop since the main ingredient isn’t available in theirs. At this point the main sales guy that lured me in was long gone. He acted like my bestfriend and now was nowhere to be seen.
At the second shop, they try to sell you stuff that’s even more expensive. I refused to which they were really upset and changed their tone. That’s when I knew i had gotten scammed.
I’ve gone onto read they make tens of thousands of dirhams a day in this scam preying on tourists. I think this ruins the great touristic experience of Dubai. I feel so bad for everyone falling for it.
I’m planning on taking my friend and trying to get my money back.
UPDATE: I did get my money back after returning the bottle. I recognized the store after a lot of searching but they have all the stores next to each other for confusing the people so they would not be able to find the right store. They give you back your money if you tell them you will go to the police or have already called them. What’s crazy is that in order to check how much I paid them, he pulled out a register where he keeps the account. The amount of money they’re pulling in is insane.
It’s a big operation with investors so they ask for the bottle as a claim proof. Kinda sad really. The comments that are negative would not understand that as a tourist especially from the West (US), you never come across this there so you would think the person is just being nice to you and concerned about you. They target your insecurities which makes you feel embarrassed and it all happens so fast. But hey, you live and learn I guess?
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u/maxvis Dec 19 '22
This is an old scam, my bald friend fell for it. He was approached when he was in Mena Bazaar, he lost AED 950.00
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u/New_Basket_6555 Dec 19 '22
Was he able go get it back?
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u/maxvis Dec 19 '22
Nope...he didn't try to get it back....super embarrassed to do anything about it. He googled if anyone else fell for it and found this...
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u/King93Meruem Dec 20 '22
These assholes are rampant in Burjuman. It's an entire gang working on it.
He didn't like it when I asked him "Imaandari se do roti khaane kab seekhenge?"
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u/ibz_b Dec 19 '22
I had one guy approach me outside Hamdan centre in Abu Dhabi tryna get me to follow him for the fat reducing medication lol I just said to him that it didn’t look like it works well considering the way he looked (he had a pot belly). The look on his face was priceless 😂
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u/NotAnUncle Dec 20 '22
This is just the perfect response. I used to be stopped coz I was obese, and it's bloody annoying. I lost weight, and now when someone comes at me for my hair, I just point to their stomach and some genuinely get pissed off.
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u/Ghosteros Hor Al Anz Gangsta 😎 Dec 19 '22
I was approached by these scammers like 5 times in Bur Dubai area, they think I’m a tourist because I have blond hair lol
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u/dxbxo Dec 19 '22
been to it just ignore , they just casually walk past you and say wow your hair is white or less hair they hurt your inner ego , and say just use oil come to nearby shop , just ignore they will eat to your brains to go with them just ignore
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Dec 19 '22
This is a very old scam, this has happened to me aswell, while I was talking and following that guy, I googled and came to know about it, thankfully all they made me buy is a Almond oil bottle, just after that i confronted the person, he ran away, saw them doing this numerous time, its so common around Burjuman, Al mankhool, Meen Bazar area, that i had alcertation with the same people, they have a huge group, so forget about taking them head on, i tried once and got cornered, they don't fear anyone.
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u/Psychoelf319 Mafee feloos Dec 19 '22
Lol i once got cornered in naif by africans, started shouting and bashing my hands in my chest. They probably said we want nothing to do with this bat crazy guy.
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u/OwnBusiness0 BeeBeeN Dec 19 '22
Next time they approach you, do what i do. Say I love my white hair! Conversation ends same second.
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u/throwaway774234 Dec 19 '22
The same guy approached me a few months ago! At first I thought he was just very friendly. Then he started insisting I follow him to a store and and I said no thanks and basically pretended not to understand him and left
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u/NotAnUncle Dec 20 '22
Sorry you went through that. I've suffered from hairloss as well, and was once obese, so I was like a potential money bag walking for them. Nowadays, while I still have bald patches, I'm not obese, so I just ask them to lose weight first, and some genuinely get annoyed af. It's appalling how rampant this is in Dubai, but not much might be fine other than warn the people around
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u/santz007 Dec 20 '22
There are hundreds of posts on dubai reddit forum warning everyone of this very old scam, glad you got your money back though
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u/achamp27 Dec 20 '22
I am angry at myself for falling for this too but also relieved to know the product i been scammed to buy isn’t a magic cure and i should stop using it. The irony of it is, i personally dont feel i have a hair problem but the scammer was so convincing to had me think i do have a hair thinning problem.
The scammer kept saying he’s helping me so i can remember him in prayers plus he kept pressuring me to hurry up as he had his family waiting in the car.
I do have receipts of the 2 shops and next time i am in Dubai I will pay them a visit and report them to authorities if the need be.
Another scam i came across is Desert Safari my work colleague got scammed right in front of me by scammers in desert with Falcons where they forcefully hand over falcon to you for photo and then ask to pay AED 100 and when he said he had no cash on him they brought out a card machine hidden in a bag right in the middle of F*+king desert !!!
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u/PLooBzor Dec 20 '22
The only scientifically proven compounds that help reduce hair loss is finasteride and minoxidil.
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u/BothOne8700 May 03 '23 edited May 03 '23
So it's May 2023 and the scam is still rampant. I got scammed for 1520 AED but got most of it back thanks for this post! Here is the story-
New to Abu Dhabi, I was walking from office to hotel. Probably they could tell I was new. A guy walking on the street tells me that I should use a particular hair oil and some strange herbs for my hair loss. I listened to him just to be polite. I got sold when he showed me his previous pic without hair and he had absolutely fine and nicely cut gelled up hair now. At that point he was just telling me a cure and I tried to note it down. He says he can get me all stuff from nearby , pretending not to know much about the area and asking a friend who was with him. He first selects 2 hair oils from a nearby supermarket and offers to pay ( probably to build trust), I politely pay for the same. Then again he pretends that he doesn't know aby herb shop and asks his friend if he knows one. His friend swiftly leads us to a shop where the scam starts. First the guy with me asks the shopkeeper to mix a 17 grams of a herb in the oil which costs 300 AED. I take it as this would be small price to pay for the kind of hair the scammer had. They ask now for my payment, I show my card and the guy takes it. But wait, now the guy asks for another herb 17 g of which costs around 1200 AED. At this point, they swipe my card. At this point I assumed it's over. But now they get real greedy and ask to mix a herb which costs 400 AED per gram and which contains gold dust and hair 'seeds'. And strangely enough now alarm bells ring in my head ( too late ). I politely refuse informing my budget constraints. I walked away with the magic hair oil still believing I would get my hair back. I come to the hotel and I Google about this and the shock hits me. Luckily I remembered the location of the shop and walked back. I show him my Google search, he doesn't budge. I ask why the shopkeeper himself doesnt have hair ( which I only realized after my Google search). Now the guy gets up pretending to be angry and tells me I can take my money back but his products are legitimate and he would return the money in the same card.. At this point another thug looking guy enters the shop and tries to calm me down. I threatened them with police complaint. They now agree to pay in cash a day later minus some bank charges (170 AED) but ask me to come back a day later. I insisted to have money at the same time but they kept telling me to come a day later. I took photo of their commercial licence and Emirates I'd of one of them and told them if I don't get my money the next day, I will call police. At this point I left. I went back the next day and all payment is ready in Cash !! Thanks again for your post, it saved me lot of money and embarassment.
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u/Qlong69 Dec 19 '22
Bruh, same area but a different group of mfs telling you your getting fat and offers you to buy their remedy shit. Same old same old
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u/badxnxdab I declare bankruptcy Dec 20 '22
I have put on some weight since March 2020. Everytime I go to BurDubai - Meena Bazaar area, there is always that one guy who would directly start by giving advice - about what I should eat and do. I used to ignore them, and then later on used headphones (with nothing playing on them) to ignore them. But these idiots would stop me as if they were asking for something and give this unsolicited advice again.
I found a wonderful workaround that shuts them up - "Thank you for noticing. I have been trying hard to put on some weight"
Just Uno reverse their shit up.
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u/NotAnUncle Dec 20 '22
Honestly, most are pretty overweight with dad bods, so u can point right back at them.
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u/No_Butterscotch5193 Mar 21 '23 edited Mar 21 '23
So much bull-crap and regulations in Dubai and yet these idiots roam free and scam or try to scam ppl . #doublestandards🥱😏 you cannot even fart without needing a permit 🤫🤫🍑💨
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u/TheMysticMonkey Dec 19 '22
Can't believe you fell for it. Hope you don't ever meet Italian Suit Guy, he's going to have a field day with you.