Man compromises 400 Facebook accounts, steals $438,000

Pham Vu Quang Truong, 20, was arrested by police of the Central Highlands’ Dak Lak Province to be investigated for obtaining property by fraud.

A search at Truong’s residence revealed over VND600 million in cash, nine ATM cards, several phones and computers, and other evidence.

In October 2021, police received a complaint from a woman in Ea Kar District saying she received a message from a relative’s Facebook account asking for money. She sent around VND30 million, but later discovered she was scammed and the Facebook account in question had already been compromised.

An investigation revealed Truong was the culprit, resulting in his arrest. Truong admitted to have learned on the Internet about Facebook services like advertisements or recovering forgotten passwords. Truong then took up clients who required those services, but stole their personal information and compromised their Facebook accounts. He then used them to scam others for money.

Police said Truong had compromised over 400 accounts and scammed over 400 people.

An investigation is ongoing.