The man in the viral TikTok video storming a car dealership with two men carrying money behind him has been identified as an influencer and arrested for “abusing the internet”.
He has been identified as Hamdan Al Rind, who refers to himself as the ‘Car Expert’.
It turns out Hamdan is not who he was portraying in the video. He had only been trying to satirise wealthy Emirati men in the video shot at a luxury car showroom in Dubai.
Many people across the world had taken the video at its face value, with many men feeling inadequate and oppressed by the sheer opulence displayed in the video.
In the video which circulated globally, Hamdan Al Rind, wearing a kandura robe, sunglasses and a surgical mask, walks arrogantly into the car show room with two men logging stacks of cash behind him.
He throws bundles of cash at workers in the dealership to buy coffee and asked the boss of the shop for the most expensive car on display.
He asked for a Ferrari SF90 and several other expensive cars on display.
The Federal Prosecution for Combating Rumours and Cybercrimes says he is accused of “abusing the internet” by posting “propaganda that stirs up the public opinion and harms the public interest.”
The state-run WAM news agency reported on Sunday that Hamdan’s video “promotes a wrong and offensive mental image of Emirati citizens and ridicules them”.
The video has now been taken down. It had attracted millions of views by the time it was deleted.
The owner of the show room where the video was shot has been identified as Ahmed Mansour.
He said Hamdan came into his show room to ask to be allowed to shoot a video and he obliged him because if he did not, he would have found another showroom to do it anyway.
He said he thought the influencer understood the law.
UAE takes a hard stance on anything that can harm the reputation of the Emirates.
