Two men in central Vietnam were able to defraud over 500 victims of $400,000 by hacking into 1,000 Facebook accounts.
Following a thorough investigation, Vietnamese police arrested Cao Van Hieu, 28, and Mai Thanh Quoc, 26.
Their scam? Posing as the overseas relatives of their victims to solicit fake investments. These two people transformed Facebook into their personal ATM.
To be clear, the scam was unexpectedly simple but extremely effective. Four days prior to the arrests, the Criminal Police had received numerous complaints from people who had been contacted by alleged relatives living abroad.
The impostors used hacked Facebook accounts to send messages and even make phone calls, convincing their victims to send money for fraudulent investment opportunities.
Authorities tracked Hieu and Quoc down to their hideout and the hackers admitted to using a variety of methods to gain control of Facebook accounts owned by Vietnamese citizens living abroad.
They then used these accounts to contact relatives in Vietnam, telling sob stories that made anyone reach for their wallet. It was all going well until the law caught up to them.
To cover their tracks, the hackers laundered the stolen funds through gaming accounts, a sneaky method that made it more difficult for authorities to track down the money.
However, their digital trail was not completely erased. The investigation revealed that this scheme had been underway since early 2024.
During that time, the two hackers has taken over 1,000 Facebook accounts, defrauding over 500 people.
Authorities are now urging anyone else who has fallen victim to this scam to come forward with information.
So, if you've received a message from a “relative” requesting an investment via Facebook, you should double-check before clicking send.