Facebook fraudster made thousands by selling pages with stolen photos

By Bhagya Silva

A suspect who had created Facebook pages using women’s photos and earned money through social media was produced before court yesterday after being arrested by the Computer Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigation Department. 

Presenting the suspect before court, the officer from the Computer Crimes Division informed that the arrest was made following a complaint lodged by a married woman.  

According to the complaint, the complainant alleged that a Facebook page had been created using her photos without her consent, along with the caption “You are my moon”.  

Investigations carried out based on the complaint revealed that the suspect had created multiple Facebook pages using photos of women, increased their reach and views. And later sold those pages each having between 10,000 and 20,000 followers for amounts ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000.  

It was further revealed that the suspect had transferred ownership of the pages by including the buyers’ email addresses.  

The investigations uncovered that the suspect had been involved in this fraudulent activity through more than ten Facebook pages.  

After considering the facts, the Magistrate granted bail to the suspect.  

The officer from the Computer Crimes Division informed court that even after being released on bail, the suspect’s activities would be closely monitored and a report would be submitted to court if he continues such fraudulent conduct.