Tricks of young group of scammers who defrauded billions of dong from Facebook users
(Baonghean.vn) - When the victim transfers money, these subjects quickly transfer it to another account, buy virtual money or send their henchmen to disguise themselves as motorbike taxi drivers, work for hire, then go to ATMs to withdraw all the money before the victim comes to their senses.
Nghe An: Arrested a group specializing in hacking Facebook, defrauding tens of billions of dong
(Baonghean.vn) - Initial investigation determined that the group of young men led by Tien had hijacked more than 500 Facebook accounts to defraud tens of billions of dong.
After more than a day of information about the arrest of a group of young people who specialized in hacking Facebook and defrauding tens of billions of dong was published in the press, many people contacted Vinh City Police to report the incident.
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| 13 subjects from Quang Tri are being detained by Vinh City Police to investigate and clarify their acts of fraud via social networks. Photo: Bang Hung |
More than 2 years following the footsteps of fraud
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Cuong - Deputy Head of Vinh City Police, not only until now but since 2017, the unit has received reports from people about being scammed out of a lot of money by the trick of taking over the Facebook accounts of acquaintances. And until the end of 2018, the unit has received more than 50 reports about this situation.
From the first days of receiving reports from the people, the police started to verify and discovered that the scammers were mainly in other areas and the money transfers were all through Internet Banking services. The accounts the scammers provided for the victims to transfer money to were immediately canceled after receiving the money. Upon verification, these accounts were bought and sold online and in fact the account owners were not involved.
The traces left by these scammers are very vague, making the investigation very difficult. There were even times when the investigation was at a standstill, while the number of people filing complaints increased.
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| After about 6 months of investigation, the suspects were arrested. Photo: Hung Bang |
Determined to stop this criminal group before they defrauded more people, at the end of 2018, Vinh City Police established Project 229N to focus on investigating and clarifying the case. In order for the project to have results soon, Vinh City Police asked the professional departments of the Ministry of Public Security for help in the investigation process.
The task force developed a meticulous plan, focusing on collecting electronic evidence and reconnaissance documents. Through that, the task force was able to build a portrait of this social network fraud ring as a group of young people, concentrated in Quang Tri province.
Although young, these subjects have a long history of activities and some even have criminal records for this high-tech fraud crime.
After about 6 months of investigation and monitoring, in late April 2019, the Task Force discovered that these subjects had gathered in Da Nang to reunite and continue their fraudulent behavior. A plan to arrest them was outlined.
“A police team was sent to Da Nang first to make a preliminary determination and narrow down the locations of these subjects. Then, the second team continued to enter and coordinate with other forces, dividing into 4 groups to raid 4 motels and guesthouses in Da Nang City, arresting 13 subjects, all of whom were from Quang Tri,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Cuong, adding that at the time the police raided, these subjects were defrauding a woman in Da Lat who had transferred 30 million VND.
At the scene, the police seized 750 million VND, 8 ecstasy pills, many hard drives, computers, phones, ATM cards... to serve the fraud activities.
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| 750 million VND in cash seized by the police during the arrest of these subjects. Photo: Bang Hung |
Professionalization of activities
In fact, the scamming methods of this group of subjects are not new, if not too old, but many people still fall into the trap. These subjects go on social networks, find out other people's Facebook passwords based on experience, then study the relationship between Facebook owners and other people through chat messages. After that, they take over the user's rights by changing the password and then create a drama of borrowing money because of urgent matters.
“Every day, these subjects can take over and defraud 5 accounts. On average, each victim is defrauded from 50-100 million VND by these subjects, but there are also many victims who are defrauded of more than 300 million VND,”
Lieutenant Colonel Cuong added that there were many victims, randomly, regardless of which province or city in the country, even people from abroad. Initially, the investigation agency determined that this group had appropriated tens of billions of dong after many years of operation.
From the initial statements of these subjects, the police determined that this group operated in a professional “chain”, dividing specific tasks. One subject specialized in hacking Facebook and sending fraudulent messages, after the victim transferred money, another subject specialized in “money laundering” in many ways.
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| Police also seized many hard drives, laptops, phones, ATM cards... that these subjects used for fraud purposes. Photo: Hung Bang |
“They can transfer money to another account using Internet Banking service, or even transfer it to a game account to buy virtual money. Then, sell the virtual money for real money. Or another subject, carefully disguised, goes to ATMs to withdraw money before the victim wakes up,” said an investigator, adding that because of professionalism, these subjects do not need to be near each other, each person in a different place but still operate smoothly.
The amount of money they appropriated was also divided according to their efforts and assigned tasks. The person who directly withdrew the money got 5%, the intermediary got 10%, and the rest went to the person who hacked Facebook and directly defrauded the victim.
Among the 13 suspects currently being criminally detained by Vinh City Police, Nguyen Huu Tien (born in 1995, residing in Quarter 1, Ward 2, Quang Tri Town, Quang Tri Province) is identified as the ringleader.
“Tien has no stable job and is a professional criminal. Through the statements on Tien’s phone and computer, the police discovered that nearly 400 accounts had been hacked by this subject. And the amount of money transferred was up to 10 billion VND,” Lieutenant Colonel Cuong added.
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| Nguyen Huu Tien (in black shirt) was identified as the leader of this fraud ring. Photo: Bang Hung |
According to the police, these subjects were able to find out players' Facebook passwords through experience and had their own tricks. Moreover, these subjects were basically knowledgeable about information technology and understood human psychology, so it was very easy for them to commit fraud.
Recognizing that there are many victims of this group, both domestic and foreign, through Nghe An Newspaper, Vinh City Police announced that anyone who is a victim of this group of scammers should contact the phone number0936.237.999, meet investigator Tran Hong Ha.
