UPDATE: The story below is continued here.

Just received this via email - you may be targetted next! Murray Raine, Aussie puppeteer, reports the following:

On the 17th of Dec 2009 I was contacted by a Dubai agent, Mr Wahid Ramadan of The Dubai Shopping Festival. He requested that I perform during this Feb- March at the festival. I emailed him back explaining I DO NOT perform in shopping centre?s nor am I available or interested in working again in Dubai. However I did suggest contacting The Sydney Puppet Theatre but Sue and Steve were fully booked up during that period.

What followed were numerous emails and 2am phone messages from Mr Ramadan each becoming more desperate than the last. Again I made it quite clear that I was neither available nor interested. I wrongly assumed that this would be the end of the matter.

Three weeks ago I received an email from a school in Dubai asking if I would consider performing for them BEFORE I finished at the festival - this rang alarm bells.

I did an internet search to discover that indeed I was advertised on a number of sites for the festival. Not only was my name advertised BUT all my publicity material was also used. I was able to make contact with the manager of the ?Arabian Centre?. He was horrified but informed me that there was a puppeteer performing at his centre using my name!!!!

He immediately contacted the Festival Director who admitted the puppeteer was not Murray Raine. The Festival Director said that Murray Raine cancelled his contract 1 week out from the festival so they had to find another puppeteer to work under his name because it was too late to change the publicity.

Last Friday I discovered more?a photo of the Murray Raine impersonator ?enthralling Dubai?. See the link below. Maybe YOU know who this ?artiste? is? http://www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp?xfile=data/dsf2010news/2010/February/dsf2010news_February14.xml&section=dsf2010news&col=

I have emailed the Director of the festival, Mr Marlon Fernando, explaining the whole situation and forwarding all email contact from Wahid Ramadan. I have demanded that all reference to ?Murray Raine Puppets? in Dubai be removed from the internet.

So far I have not received an answer as to how or why this situation has happened. I have sought legal advice and have discovered that it would be very $$$$ to take this fraud through the Dubai court system. I have also since discovered that an Australian ventriloquist was ripped-off by Mr Ramadan last year at another festival event in Dubai.

So my warning to all fellow puppeteers: DO NOT under any circumstance enter into any verbal or email contact with Mr Wahid Ramadan.

Many thanks?

Murray Raine
http://puppetcabaret.com
The Murray Raine Puppets