Camera Job Scam

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A freelance photography job that appeared legitimate turned into a costly deception for three Qatar-based professionals after they were flown to Bahrain and robbed of their camera gear.

The fraud has raised alarm over job scams circulating in social media groups targeting creative workers in the Gulf.

The victim, a photographer residing in Qatar and hailing from Kalikavu in Malappuram district of the southern Indian state of Kerala, responded to a poster shared in a Qatar-based WhatsApp group. It advertised freelance photography work across GCC countries and included a Saudi contact number.

He was told the assignment was with a UK-based company and would take place in Bahrain. Due to “visa sensitivities,” details were withheld until after arrival. After expressing interest, he received a flight ticket and travelled to Bahrain on Saturday.

Well-planned setup

At the airport, he was received by an Asian man who escorted him to a hotel apartment in Juffair. The man claimed there was no work that day and held on to a spare key to the room. Later, he took the victim out for dinner and said the project would start the following day.

On Sunday, a taxi picked up the victim and dropped him at a beach resort in Jaw. He was asked to wait in the lobby for two hours, then told to proceed to a star hotel. After a long wait with no client in sight, the victim returned to his room to find it ransacked. His Sony camera, charger, memory cards, and other gear worth around BD1,300 were missing.

Pattern of theft

When he reported the incident to hotel staff, they revealed that similar cases had occurred in other rooms. At the Nabih Saleh Police Station, he met two other Qatar residents who had been targeted in the same manner. Together, the three lost equipment valued at nearly BD 15,000.

The Asian man had booked the room under his own name and submitted valid passport details, but police found that he had boarded a flight to Pakistan the previous afternoon. A forensic team inspected the apartment and the investigation is ongoing.

The case has drawn attention to the risks faced by freelance professionals in the Gulf who often operate without contracts or formal safeguards. With platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram now being used for informal recruitment, job scams have become harder to detect.

Authorities have urged job seekers to verify credentials before accepting overseas assignments, especially those that require no paperwork or rely on vague instructions. The victims returned to Qatar yesterday