Security forces in Lebanon have arrested an individual who has been scamming people with fake promises of immigration to Italy in exchange for money.
Lebanese security forces recently received a fraud complaint against an unknown individual, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) said in a statement on Monday.
The complainer, identified as M.A., claimed that he had fallen victim to a scam run by Instagram user “hasan_dahi747,” who had contacted him in early 2020 and misled him with the claim that he owned a factory in Italy and could help him emigrate from Lebanon.
The unknown user promised him that he could secure him accommodation and a job in his “marble factory” in Italy and asked him to prepare a passport.
He then asked for a transfer of $235 to a Turkey-based individual identified as H.M., under the pretext of “paying it to the embassy to set the date of travel within a short period,” according to the ISF’s statement.
Later, the Instagram user asked for another transfer, this time 2,360,000 Lebanese pounds, to be sent to H.M. to cover “immigration fees,” before asking M.A. to send an iPhone 6 Plus phone, which the latter delivered to a girl in Tripoli upon the user’s request.
M.A. realized that he had been deceived after the user repeatedly evaded his contact attempts.
Security forces have since detained and interrogated 60-year-old Lebanese national H.M., who admitted to having received transfers from the plaintiff upon the request of a certain person identified as H.D. However, he denied knowing that it was linked to fraudulent activity.
The user of the aforementioned Instagram account was later confirmed to be a 47-year-old Lebanese national named H.D.
He was detained and interrogated as well, and he confirmed that he had defrauded the plaintiff and several other people in the same manner.
In light of this case, the ISF warned people of such scams and asked those who have fallen victim to them to head to the Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Bureau, located in the Col. Joseph Daher Barracks – Camille Chamoun Boulevard, for the necessary legal proceedings.
Otherwise, they can call 01-293293 and report their incident.
