19-year-old girl in Nghe An uses fake Facebook to scam and sell cheap medical masks
(Baonghean.vn) - For a long time, Na used 3 fake Facebook accounts to sell online products including shoes, clothes, handbags and recently cheap medical masks.
On the morning of February 22, the Nghi Loc District Police Department announced that the unit is temporarily detaining Le Thi Lan Na (born 2001), residing in Hamlet 1, Nghia Trung Commune, Nghia Dan District, for the act of "fraudulent appropriation of property".
Previously, at the end of December 2019, through monitoring the situation on cyberspace, Nghi Loc District Police discovered a number of Facebook accounts that often advertised selling shoes, clothes, handbags... with signs of "fraudulent appropriation of property".
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| Subject Le Thi Lan Na. Photo: Nhat Tuan |
While verifying the cases and suspects, on January 31, 2020, Nghi Loc District Police received a report from Ms. Nguyen Thi H, residing in Nam Tu Liem District (Hanoi) stating that during her work in Nghi Loc District, Ms. H went online and saw a woman selling medical masks at a price cheaper than the market price, so she ordered 5 boxes for her family to use and for charity. After agreeing on the price, the female subject asked Ms. H to transfer a deposit of 4.6 million VND. Ms. H agreed and transferred the deposit to the subject's account. After transferring the money, Ms. H contacted the subject again, but the female subject turned off her phone, locked her Facebook, and did not transfer the number of boxes of masks as requested.
Considering the subject's behavior of taking advantage of Facebook, especially taking advantage of the complicated developments of the COVID-19 epidemic to commit fraud and appropriate property, causing panic, anxiety, and frustration among the people. Therefore, Nghi Loc District Police have established Project 0220L to combat this.
The unit's leaders mobilized experienced investigators and detectives to participate in the project. After a period of using professional measures and persistently studying the operating patterns of the subjects in many different locations in the country, the Project Board identified Le Thi Lan Na (born in 2001), residing in Hamlet 1, Nghia Trung Commune, Nghia Dan District, Nghe An as the mastermind and leader, directly through Facebook accounts, carrying out fraudulent acts to appropriate customers' assets.
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| Some of the seized exhibits. Photo: Nhat Tuan |
After collecting all documents and evidence, on the morning of February 21, Nghi Loc District Police presided over and coordinated with Nghia Dan District Police and Nghia Trung Commune Police (Nghia Dan) to arrest Le Thi Lan Na for the act of "fraudulent appropriation of property". The seized exhibits included 02 ATM cards, 02 mobile phones, and more than 10 million VND in cash.
At the investigation agency, faced with the evidence, Na had to admit: the subject used 3 fake Facebook accounts to sell online products including shoes, clothes, handbags and recently cheap medical masks because these items were "hot" due to the complicated developments of COVID-19 pneumonia. When customers placed orders, the subject asked for deposits to be transferred in advance to many different accounts with the minimum amount of 300 thousand VND, the maximum of 7 million VND.
Upon receiving the customer's deposit, Na deleted his Facebook account, deleted the messages he used to scam, and blocked the victim's account. Using this method, from February 2019 to present, Na and his accomplices have successfully carried out over 150 scams nationwide with a total amount of over 200 million VND.
Currently, Project 0220L is being further investigated and expanded by Nghi Loc District Police to arrest the remaining suspects.