A man has been arrested in Lebanon after stealing a large number of social media accounts and using them to blackmail victims.
On June 16th, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Cybercrimes Bureau received a blackmail complaint from a woman against an unknown individual, the ISF said in a statement on Tuesday.
The woman said the unidentified person had stolen her social media account and threatened her to share private photos of her online.
Investigations led the aforementioned office to a suspect identified by the initials S.T.K. (26, Syrian), who was located in the village of Bhamdoun, Mount Lebanon. He was found to have a history of similar crimes.
During his interrogation, the suspect confessed to having threatened and blackmailed the plaintiff, asking her to send him inappropriate photos and videos of herself.
He also confessed that he had used the plaintiff’s account to deceive other people.
In total, he hacked more than 750 Facebook and Instagram accounts, which the Cybercrimes Bureau is working to return to their owners, according to the ISF.
The ISF invites people who have fallen victim to such attacks to go to Cybercrimes Bureau at the Col. Joseph Daher Barracks – Camille Chamoun Boulevard or to call 01/293293 to initiate the necessary legal proceedings.
It also calls upon the public to be wary of blackmailers and to refrain from opening any suspicious links or filling in their email address or password in suspicious online forms.
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