Young man uses fake Facebook to scam and sell nice sim numbers and cheap masks

On the morning of April 27, the Nghi Loc District Police Department announced that the unit had just successfully broken up a case and arrested Nguyen Dinh Tuan (born in 1993), residing in Vinh Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District, for fraud and property appropriation.

According to documents from the investigation agency, since September 2029, through the work of grasping the situation on cyberspace, this agency has discovered a number of Facebook accounts with signs of fraudulent activities to appropriate assets. Specifically, through Facebook, the subject has used many fake accounts to fraudulently sell beautiful phone numbers and especially to fraudulently sell cheap masks in recent times. This fraudulent activity has caused confusion and indignation in society. The leaders of Nghi Loc District Police have established a special project to fight and clarify.

The exhibits in the case.Photo: Nhat Tuan

The task force identified Nguyen Dinh Tuan (born in 1993), residing in Vinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, as the mastermind and leader of the online sales fraud cases that the task force is fighting.

At 10:00 a.m. on April 24, Nghi Loc District Police presided over and coordinated with Vinh Thanh Commune Police, Yen Thanh District to arrest Nguyen Dinh Tuan. Searching Tuan's residence, the authorities seized 2 ATM cards; 2 mobile phones; more than 15 million VND along with documents and evidence that the subject used to commit fraud and appropriate property.

Through the fight with Tuan, the investigation agency initially determined: Tuan himself worked in many unstable jobs, including a time as a phone card dealer. Knowing that there was a service for renting beautiful sim numbers on social networks, the subject rented the sim numbers and posted them for sale at a cheap price on 2 fake Facebook accounts that the subject created himself. When someone asked to buy, the subject quoted a cheap price and then asked for a deposit to be transferred to many accounts and e-wallets with an amount of at least 2 million VND each time, at most 20 million VND, and placed multiple times for each case.

Subject Nguyen Dinh Tuan. Photo: Nhat Tuan

After receiving the deposit from the customer, Nguyen Dinh Tuan immediately locked his fake Facebook, blocked the victim's account, deleted the messages and did not send the customer a phone SIM card as requested.

Recently, when the demand for masks increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nguyen Dinh Tuan also used this trick to fraudulently sell antibacterial fabric and cheap masks.

Using the above form, from September 2019 to present, Nguyen Dinh Tuan has carried out more than 10 fraud cases, appropriating a total amount of over 200 million VND from customers to play Forex (trading currencies of different countries with each other), personal spending and debt repayment.

Currently, Nghi Loc District Police are continuing to investigate and expand Project 420L and arrest the remaining subjects.