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Eddie Murphy in Coming to America

A Frenchman who allegedly blagged a luxury Queensland holiday by pretending to be a rich Arab prince has been charged with fraud.

Reports have suggested that 26-year-old prankster Abdelkarim Serhani was initially inspired to talk his way into a life of luxury hotels, beautiful women and fast cars after watching the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America.

He has since earned a reputation for conning his way around the world as a fake Saudi royal.

However it seems the Frenchman, who says he once trained to be a police officer, may have run out of luck.

Serhani, currently out on bail with his passport confiscated, has been charged with a $42,000 fraud after allegedly living the high life on Hamilton Island, in the Whitsundays. He has also been charged with drink driving and another $3,000 fraud in Airlie Beach.

The “fake prince” is also accused of taking two bottles of Don Perignon champagne, worth $600, from a Cairns bottle shop.

The Crown Hotel’s manager Brett Jeffery told the The Cairns Post that a man matching Serhani’s description disappeared with the bottles. Mr Jeffery commented: “He said he was on a yacht and staying at the Hilton. He seemed quite flamboyant.”

Yet Serhani, who also claims to be studying in Sydney, was actually staying at the Cairns Woodduck Backpackers, until he was thrown out.

UPDATE: ‘CATCH ME IF YOU CAN’ FRENCHMAN ESCAPES TO NZ