Tricks of the group of subjects stealing Facebook accounts to appropriate property

In early December 2021, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention of the Provincial PoliceDien Chau District Police received reports from many people about some bad guys using tricks to steal security information of Facebook accounts, then impersonating the account owner to send messages to relatives and friends asking them to transfer money, borrow money and then appropriate it.

The subjects impersonated Facebook accounts, sent messages to approach and gain trust to defraud and appropriate property of the victims. Photo:Trong Tuan

Recognizing that this is a type of crime that uses high technology and very sophisticated tricks, it is necessary to focus on investigating and preventing it soon, not allowing criminals to continue committing crimes, under the direction of the provincial police leadership,Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime PreventionNghe An Provincial Policeand Dien Chau District Police urgently made a plan to investigate and clarify.

Using synchronous professional measures, and working with a number of victims and Facebook account owners whose information was stolen in Vinh city, Dien Chau district and a number of other localities, the police agency determined that this was a professional act of property fraud, carried out systematically and methodically.

The authorities have checked the suspicious bank accounts that were used to transfer money, and coordinated with relevant banks to provide personal information and transaction history statements. In the process of verifying the suspicious bank accounts, the authorities encountered many difficulties because the subjects' money transfer history was from many different account numbers. In addition, to avoid detection by the authorities, the subjects also used the trick of transferring money through many intermediary accounts that were not the owner's before transferring it to their main bank account.

After a period of persistent investigation, the police identified Nguyen Sanh Thoi (born 2002), residing in Trieu Hoa commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province as the main subject, the mastermind behind the crime. Through professional measures, the authorities have obtained accurate information that Thoi is currently operating and residing in Hue city, Thua Thien Hue province.

Some of the subjects' exhibits were seized by the authorities. Photo:Trong Tuan

December 26, 2021, Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime PreventionNghe An Provincial PoliceDien Chau District Police coordinated with Hue City Police to execute an emergency arrest warrant for Nguyen Sanh Thoi, while he was staying at a motel in An Dong Ward, Hue City, Thua Thien Hue Province.

At the scene, the authorities seized 2 desktop computers, 3 laptops, 8 mobile phones, 10 bank cards, 23 mobile phone SIM cards and 56 million in cash.

Continuing to investigate and verify, the police agency clarified and executed an emergency arrest warrant for two more related subjects, including: Pham Thi Huyen Nhung (born 2000), residing in Phu Thuan commune, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province and Vo Linh (born 1997), residing in Trieu Long commune, Trieu Phong district, Quang Tri province.

At the investigation agency, the subjects confessed to all their crimes. Accordingly, since the beginning of 2021, these subjects have created a link with a domain name similar to the Organizing Committee of the "Voice of Vietnam" contest, then shared it on Facebook to call for votes, with very attractive prizes to attract the attention of many people.

To vote, account owners must access the shared link, log in with their account information (username, password), and then vote. Because the link contains malicious code, when users log in, the subjects steal a lot of the user's account information. From here, the subjects collect images and data of the account owners and cut and paste them into short videos.

From left to right, subjects Nguyen Sanh Thoi, Vo Linh and Pham Thi Huyen Nhung. Photo:Trong Tuan

To commit fraud, the group impersonated the account owners, then tried every way to text and gain the trust of the account owners' relatives and friends, and borrowed or asked them to transfer money to their account numbers. More sophisticatedly, to avoid suspicion, the subjects used pre-edited videos and used tricks to make the victims believe that they were the account owners and were video calling the victims.

With the above sophisticated form of fraud, in November and December 2021 alone, the subjects successfully carried out 17 fraud cases, appropriating property of 17 victims in many localities across the country such as Nghe An, Lam Dong, Lang Son, Ha Tinh, Phu Yen... with an amount of more than 300 million VND. The authorities also verified and clarified the bank accounts used by the above group of subjects for criminal activities with a total transaction amount of more than 3 billion VND.

The case is currently being further investigated and clarified by the Nghe An Police. At the same time, the Police Department also sent notices to the Police of relevant units and localities to propagate and notify the victims to promptly report to serve the investigation and expand the case.