Ecuador: Scammers on Facebook Offering Loans for One Percent

AT LEAST 300 VICTIMS OF FACEBOOK SCAM / HEAD OF CRIMINAL GROUP IS FOREIGNER

EL TELÉGRAFO / MACHINE TRANSLATED/ The offer was very attractive: loans between $ 1,000 and $ 100,000 at 1% interest. The announcement circulated on Facebook and there were those who risked to participate, despite the same route appear warnings from the Ministry of Interior not to trust these proposals. The researchers estimate that 300 people were harmed. The dawn of Thursday, personnel of the Anti-kidnapping and Extortion Unit (Unase), of the National Directorate of Crimes against Life (Dinased), carried out an operation in which they captured 18 alleged members of the criminal group that operated, In Manabí and Pichincha. Of the seized five are women. Preliminarily it was known that one of the prisoners is the ringleader and is a foreigner. An Unase agent, who for security does not reveal his identity, explained how the network operated. The victims filled out forms with their personal and financial details. Also before receiving the money, they had to deposit a kind of guarantee: 20% of what they needed.

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As proof they had to send, through an email, the deposit slip. After this process they had to wait for the supposed approval and the cash would be in their power in 24 hours. “But that never happened, they lost the surrender and were extorted from being denounced.” He added that the group had been operating since 2015 and that the proceeds of its illicit activity raised about $ 514,126. The investigations began seven months ago. The capture operation – called “Colecta” – began at 01:00 yesterday and included 23 raids in Quito, Cayambe, Alóag (Pichincha) and Manta (Manabí). The incursions included 83 agents from the Dinased, 80 from the Intervention and Rescue Group (GIR), 10 from the National Police Directorate for Children and Adolescents (Dinapen), 23 experts from the Department of Criminology and Forensic Science and 23 Agents of the Attorney General’s Office. As evidence is $ 11,000, 40 cell phones, four telephone routing equipment, three desktop computers, four laptops, two tablets, six debit and credit cards, 12 savings books, 50 deposit slips, four hard disks, 6 memories And 10 chips. Until the closing of this edition, there was no hearing of the formulation of charges. READ ARTICLE