NSS Reveals Fraud Committed by Organized Group via Facebook

The National Security Service (NSS) of the Republic of Armenia has announced the revelation of a case of large-scale fraud committed by an organized group through the social network Facebook.

A statement from the NSS press center notes, "As a result of operational-investigative large-scale measures conducted by the NSS Main Department of Information Security and Government Relations, it was established that residents of Yerevan, G.A. and M.B., combined their efforts with the intent to fraudulently seize funds from Facebook users, forming a stable organized group and developing a criminal scheme aimed at swindling significant amounts of money from various individuals under the guise of deception or abuse of trust.

From March to July 2021, these individuals registered fake personal accounts on the Facebook social network using the details of various users, camouflaging the fakeness with photos and other personal information downloaded from the genuine accounts, thereby creating favorable conditions to avoid detection and facilitate the commission of offenses.

Then, through these fake accounts, they conducted correspondence via the Messenger application with approximately 40 users with the intent to steal money, using the pretext of transferring funds for individuals in military service, thereby influencing the will and consciousness of the victims. As a result, members of the organized group fraudulently seized significant amounts of money totaling approximately 4,000,000 AMD. The funds were transferred through the 'Telsel' payment terminal to various electronic wallets of the 'Qivi' payment system controlled by the group, and were then cashed out.

In connection with this case, suspects from the organized group have been arrested on direct suspicion of committing a crime, charged as per points 1 and 2 of part 3 of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia, and preventive measure of detention has been applied.

The NSS warns to refrain from transferring money through suspicious transactions in a similar manner, to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.

Notice: The suspected or accused individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court ruling that has entered into legal force in accordance with the procedure established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.