The National Police in Honduras captured a 21-year-old woman accused of participating in a scam in which a victim lost nearly 400,000 lempiras, more than ($15,000 dollars) after receiving messages from a fake WhatsApp profile with the photo of a relative who resides in the United States.
The Police Investigation Directorate (DPI) reported that the arrest was carried out in the municipality of El Progreso, Yoro department, in compliance with an order issued by a court in Danlí for the alleged crime of fraud.
According to the investigation, the victim began receiving messages from an account that appeared to belong to a cousin living in the United States. To give credibility to the deception, those responsible used the relative’s real photograph and claimed that they had sent several boxes with computers to Honduras.
How the scam operated
According to the investigations, the merchandise had been held at customs and it was necessary to make several bank deposits to cover alleged taxes and administrative expenses before being able to withdraw it.
Convinced that she was speaking with her relative, the victim made multiple transfers for 397,900 lempiras. Investigations determined that 243,950 lempiras were deposited into one of the receiving accounts, which belonged to the captured woman, who was placed at the disposal of the justice system so that the judicial process may continue.
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The fraud was discovered when the victim managed to communicate directly with their relative in the United States and verified that they had never sent computers nor maintained the conversation through the messaging application.
A widespread form of fraud
Scams via WhatsApp, Facebook, and other digital platforms have become one of the fastest-growing cybercrimes in Honduras. The authorities have detected that criminals often take photographs posted on social media to create fake profiles with which they impersonate family members or friends, especially those living abroad.
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A cell phone shows a fraudulent call alert on its screen, with the number and the label “Unknown”, and indicates the option to reject or accept.
From that false identity, they request money under the pretext of shipping packages, remittances, financial aid, or alleged customs tax payments. In other cases, they offer non-existent investments, prizes, or fraudulent loans with the goal of obtaining bank deposits or confidential information from the victims.
The increase in these cases recently led the Central Bank of Honduras (BCH) to warn about new forms of digital fraud that use fake links, phone calls, text messages, and websites that imitate official institutions to obtain banking information or divert money
discovered when the victim spoke with their relative in the United States and confirmed that they never sent computers nor wrote via WhatsApp.
Security calls for reporting scams
Financial authorities have reiterated that no institution requests bank keys, verification codes, or personal passwords by phone, email, or messaging applications. Therefore, they recommend being wary of any request for money received through those means and always verifying the identity of the person making the request.
Following the arrest, the DPI urged the public to confirm directly with family members or acquaintances any request for money received through messaging applications, especially when it involves alleged international shipments or packages held at customs.
The institution also urged reporting these types of incidents to facilitate investigations and prevent more people from becoming victims of criminal organizations that take advantage of digital platforms to commit fraud in Honduras.
