The Dubai police have released details about the arrest of social media celebrities, Hushpuppi, Woodberry and 11 others for alleged 150 million dirhams (N168 billion) fraud.
Hushpuppi, whose real name is Ramon Abbas, and Woodberry, who was born, Olalekan Ponle, and the others, were arrested and taken into custody on June 10.
In a video released by the Dubai media office on Twitter on Thursday, it was confirmed that Hushpuupi and the others were arrested in an operation code-named ‘Fox Hunt 2’.
According to the video, a team of highly trained police officers confirmed the gang’s location after investigating and tracking their social media accounts.
The gang is accused of creating fake accounts for existing websites in order to redirect victims’ payments into their own accounts, among other financial crimes.
They are said to have given statements but officials say they are unlikely to be charged for several weeks to allow for thorough investigations.
“We seized more than Dh150 million in cash from them and confiscated 13 luxury cars worth Dh25 million,” said Dubai police chief, Jamal Salem Al Jallaf.
Items seized from the gang also included 21 computers, 47 mobile phones, 15 memory sticks, and five hard disks containing 119,580 in alleged fraud files.
The gang is said to have targeted a total of 1,926,400 victims, mostly of American and European nationality.
The raid is being hailed as a major breakthrough in the fight against cybercrimes by the government of the United Arab Emirates.
