Scammed by 3 teenagers, these children caused their parents to lose 85,000 euros

It is well known that scams of all kinds abound on social networks. Recently, three teenagers were arrested after they managed to steal 85,000 euros from children on Instagram.

The number of victims amounts to 31 people throughout France. Thursday, October 6, three teenagers aged 18 to 19 were placed under judicial control of Versailles. The reason ? The latter have managed to defraud many children on Instagram, report our colleagues from Parisian.

Photo credit: illustration image / Istock

A well-established scam

The masquerade began in 2019 when criminals approached young users of the famous video game ' Fortnite on the famous Instagram social network. Their modus operandi? Promise V-Bucks (virtual currency usable in the game) in exchange for a photo of the parents' bank card, as well as the purchase validation code, specifies the regional daily.

And the least we can say is that this set-up paid off since the scammers won 85,000 euros. Worse still, the teenagers also contacted cardholders posing as bogus bank advisors.

Photo credit: illustration image / Istock

After obtaining key information, they did not hesitate to make transfers to their own account or to make purchases online, explains the Parisian. They were betrayed by easily traceable digital traces.

The presumed culprits were arrested in Mantes-la-Ville on October 5th. Still according to the Parisian, they will be summoned before a children's judge because they were minors at the time of the facts. It should be noted that their victims were mainly from Île-de-France, Eure, Hérault, Vaucluse, Corsica, Doubs or even Nord-Pas-de-Calais.