Arrested for creating social media accounts to call for charity to commit fraud

On May 15, the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, Dong Thap Provincial Police, said that it had handed over Huynh Phuong Thuy (born in 2004), residing in Nam Can town, Nam Can district, Ca Mau province, to the Investigation Police Agency, Cao Lanh City Police (Dong Thap province) to investigate the act of fraud and property appropriation.

Subject Huynh Phuong Thuy. Photo: VNA

Previously, through the work of grasping the situation, the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention discovered many Facebook accounts with signs of fraud in charitable donations. Facebook accounts named "Thu Nguyen", "Thuy Phuong", "Loan Nguyen", "Ngoc Tram", "Thuy Thuy" posted many news and articles in groups with many members to call for support and charitable donations. The case had signs of crime and people in Cao Lanh city were scammed, so the unit conducted an investigation.

Using professional measures, on May 9, 2024, the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, Dong Thap Provincial Police coordinated with Cao Lanh City Police to arrest Thuy in Dong Nai Province. Through investigation, Thuy admitted that she had created many Facebook accounts, then copied news and articles calling for charitable donations on social networks and posted them on many groups with many members. When posting news and articles, Thuy changed the bank account information to the account number she owned to receive donations from benefactors.

After receiving the money, Thuy withdrew it for personal use. The police conducted a statement of Thuy's bank account and found many transactions of receiving donations totaling about 140 million VND.

Recently, the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of Dong Thap Province Police discovered many “fake” social media accounts posting fake news, articles, and images, calling for charitable donations with the purpose of defrauding and appropriating money. This unit recommends that people carefully check the information before transferring money to support difficult circumstances that are called for support via social media.

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