A Nigerian billionaire, cocaine hidden in pineapples, and a body found in a suitcase,
here are 10 of the craziest FBI Instagram busts!
10: The Nigerian Billionaire Wait a minute.. you mean to tell me that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation is watching my instagram stories?!
I thought I only had to hide my weekend activities from my snoopy parents!
Yes.
The FBI is in fact all up in our business.. well when we give them a good reason to be..
The Nigerian Instagram star known as Hushpuppi has been busted in a cyber scam worth over
$431 million!
The man's real name is Raymond Abbas, and he has 2.4 million followers on his social
media account.
He doesn't do much except show off his lavish lifestyle of wearing designer clothes, driving
luxury cars, and flying across the world on private jets.
However, he was just busted in Dubai for a crazy scheme in which he ripped off credit
card information!
His wild posts of him holding money and smiling with all his gold chains caught the attention
of government agencies.
He was targeting victims overseas by making fake websites.
These websites were poor copies of already known companies and banks.
So when people put in their credit card information, he was able to steal their money.
Raymond passed himself off as an affluent and very wealthy real estate developer, but
the truth is that he was just a great big scamming phony.
His apartment in Dubai was raided by the FBI and Interpol while he was sound asleep, and
they managed to secure $37 million - in cash!
Who keeps that much cash in their home?!
The investigators also found about 2 million email addresses from victims stored on phones,
computers, and even hard drives.
Even though he was busted in Dubai, the Nigerian fake billionaire is still accused of fraud
in Europe and the United States.
He probably won't be posting to social media again for a very long time.
Side note, Hushpuppi is a ridiculous name..
9: Diamond Thieves Instagram has managed to help the FBI catch
a group of diamond thieves who had committed crimes in at least 10 states across the country.
These were “smash and grab” bandits who were terrorizing jewelers!
They are currently accused of pulling off over 30 heists.
They did this by using sledgehammers to break open the display cases and then run away with
the diamonds stuffed into a bag.
Not the cleanest criminals, but it was a lucrative scheme.
The feds seized more than $1.5 million in diamonds during their investigation.
The members of the gang all came from the city of Detroit, and the only reason that
the FBI finally caught up to them is because of social media.
It all happened when the federal officers discovered a peculiar Instagram account called
“doitfor_diamond.”
It was apparently used by different members of the gang.
One of them had posted a picture on the Instagram account wearing a necklace that was stolen
from one of the jewelers.
It was enough to connect the dots and lead the FBI to the Detroit gang.
On June 18th, three of the robbers were arrested while they attempted to break into a jewelry
store in Tennessee!
Though apparently, there were two groups that would drive to the robbery location from Detroit
in two separate vehicles.
One in a “clean” car that was either lawfully rented or properly registered, and the other
group in a “burner," or stolen, vehicle that could be ditched after the robberies.
Although some of the men have been caught, the FBI believes there were at least 10 gang
members involved, so the case may still be ongoing!
8: The Capitol Rioter The FBI says that they used facial recognition
software to track and arrest an individual who took part in the capitol riots back in
2021.
This is amazing because it was the first time that the FBI came out and acknowledged that
they used this technology to discover the identity of a suspect, track them down, and
then arrest them.
The affidavit was shared online, detailing how federal agents discovered the identity
of Stephen Chase Randolph using images from the riots.
The facial recognition tool identified this guy, then led the FBI to an Instagram page
belonging to his girlfriend.
To further confirm Randolph’s participation, undercover FBI agents went to his workplace
on April 13 and approached him.
They struck up a casual conversation with Randolph in which he admitted being at the
capitol during the riots, saying “I was in it” and “It was f****** fun.”
But why did the FBI want Randolph so badly?
Well, it's because in the videos from the riot, he could be seen assaulting several
police officers at the US capitol, as well as pushing over the barricades, which resulted
in an officer hitting her head against the stairs and being knocked unconscious.
Federal agents used the girlfriend's Instagram account to get all the information they needed,
linking it to Facebook accounts belonging to family members, finding Randolph's full
name, and then tracking down where he lived and worked before they made the arrest.
7: Drug Running A lot of very stupid drug dealers have been
busted selling drugs thanks to their Instagram account.
This particular bust happened after the suspected dealer let an undercover agent with the DEA
follow him on the social media application.
This guy was literally posting pictures of drugs that he had for sale in the Bay Area.
He also posted pictures with great big towers of cash that he made selling those very narcotics.
According to the affidavit released by the DEA, they first learned of this guy, real
name Marcos Hatch, from a different local man suspected of dealing drugs.
In other words, the other guy snitched on Marcos!
It was probably one of the easiest investigations ever.
The undercover officer requested to follow the dealer on Instagram, he accepted, and
the photographs were proof enough for authorities to get a warrant to search his home, where
they not only found drugs, but also an AK-47.
On a scale of 1 to 10, Marcos Hatch is how dumb?
Let us know your opinion in the comments section down below, and if you’re liking this video
be sure to hit the thumbs up and subscribe buttons if you haven’t already!
:)
6: Fake Student A woman in Florida – a woman who happened
to be a former police officer, was recently arrested after she snuck into a high school
and posed as a student to try and collect Instagram followers.
This is one of the weirdest cases of the century.
Audrey Nicole Francisquini was arrested at 28 years old for sneaking onto the campus
of a local high school.
She tried to blend in with the students by wearing a backpack and carrying a skateboard
as if it were still 1999.
She then handed out paper fliers with her Instagram printed on them, asking students
to follow her.
But then a security guard got suspicious, as she seemed to be harassing the students.
The security guard called the police, Audrey ran away, and the police officers then used
her own fliers against her, discovering her identity from her Instagram account.
She was charged on three counts, one for burglary of an occupied dwelling,another for trespassing
an educational institution/interference, and the third for resisting an officer without
violence to his person.
She racked up $16,500 in fines.
And to make this story even wilder, she had actually been charged in 2017 with revenge
porn because she stole and posted naked pictures of another officer she had worked with, resulting
in her getting fired.
As for why she was looking for Instagram followers at a high school, we don’t really know.
And anyway, she’s obviously crazy.
5: Cocaine Pineapples Have you ever bought a box of pineapples only
to realize it was actually a box of cocaine?!
Just kidding.. kind of.
Operation Trojan Shield was a huge operation conducted by the FBI to take down criminal
groups working across the globe to smuggle drugs and launder money, and it involved hardened
encrypted devices.
These are devices that transfer messages secretly, like an encrypted cell phone.
The operation began in 2016 with the FBI investigating a company out of Canada called Phantom Secure,
which as it turned out was selling hardened encrypted devices - only to criminal organizations.
When the police shut down the company, over 10,000 devices being used by these criminals
suddenly went dead.
The FBI did the same thing with more companies, shutting down all encrypted communication.
Basically, the FBI doesn't like people talking if they can't listen in on it.
It's because criminals using the devices were organizing crimes under the radar, crimes
like hiding cocaine inside boxes of pineapples.
By 2021, Operation Trojan Shield led to the arrest of over 800 people and the seizure
of over 8 tons(16,000lbs) of cocaine and 22 tons(44,000lbs) of marijuana.
4: Russian Crypto Laundering The FBI has arrested a Russian rapper residing
in the United States for the crime of money laundering.
For evidence, the FBI used Instagram pictures in which the rapper incriminated himself by
posting huge wads of cash in both dollars and Russian rubles.
Maksim Boiko was laundering money in the United States using crypto currency as well as conspiring
with organized crime syndicates in other parts of the world.
He may have continued on with his scam if not for how he entered the states in the first
place.
He flew into Los Angeles with $20,000 in cash and claimed it was from an investment in Bitcoin.
The authorities were skeptical, so they watched him, investigated him, and creeped his Instagram.
They realized he was laundering money and quickly shut Boiko down.
Vwhat?!
(russian accent) A guy like this should have known better than to go to the airport with
that much cash.
Obviously, you’ll get flagged for having anything over 10k.
Rookie mistake Boiko.
3: Livestreaming Murder A man in California did something absolutely
horrible.
Not only did he murder two people, but he then livestreamed the victims’ lifeless
corpses.
Raymond Michael Weber has since been charged with the murder of two women, and the police
had all the evidence they needed from a 36-minute-long video that he streamed on Instagram.
In the livestream, Raymond was holding a firearm, pointing at the dead bodies, and talking about
how the women had tricked him and set him up.
He also said he was aware that the police would be coming soon and that he would never
be seen again.
The call came at about 12:45 in the morning when a woman phoned the police to report someone
she thought was armed and dangerous inside an apartment building just outside of Sacramento.
She said that the man was livestreaming himself on social media inside his apartment.
By this time, the two women were already dead.
When officers arrived, the man had barricaded himself inside.
Raymond would not come out, and the cops were forced to burst their way into the apartment,
taser the guy, and then arrest him.
As for the identity of the two dead women, the police have not yet released anything.
According to Fox News, Raymond was a local resident and already wanted on several felonies,
including domestic battery and assault with a deadly weapon.
2: Dead in a Suitcase A man has been arrested in connection to a
dead Instagram influencer who was discovered deceased and stuffed into a suitcase.
This is some seriously graphic stuff, so be prepared.
Instagram influencer Ekaterina Karaglanova, only 24 years old, was stabbed multiple times
and then put into a suitcase and left inside her Moscow apartment.
Who found her body?
Sadly, it was her parents!
They let themselves into her apartment after she neglected to answer their calls for almost
a week.
They found her brutalized inside the suitcase, and afterward the authorities were quick to
arrest a man in connection with the killing, a man who was apparently jealous of the young
and attractive Instagram star’s lifestyle, her travel plans, and her new boyfriend.
She had about 85,000 Instagram followers, making lots of money from sharing photos of
herself in lingerie and at luxury hotels – but all that luxury ended up being her downfall,
as the jealous man decided that she just didn't deserve it.
1: Bitcoin Scam A popular personality on Instagram known as
Jay Mazini has been charged with wire fraud.
His real name is Jebara Igbara, and he used his popularity on social media to trick his
followers into selling him Bitcoin.
This guy actually had people who liked him enough to follow him on social media send
him Bitcoin while saying that he was going to send wire transfers to them, paying up
to 5% above market value.
But in reality, he never sent any money to anyone and ended up getting away with $2.5
million in Bitcoin from his victims.
But he didn’t get away for long, since he was busted by the FBI after his victims freaked
out and the Internet exploded in complaints.
You can't have 1,000,000 followers on Instagram and rip off that many people without somebody
taking notice.
However, even though Jay Mazini was busted by the FBI, he still hasn't technically been
charged.
The investigation is still ongoing, with the good news being that if found guilty, he could
face up to 20 years in prison – and that will probably make the people he ripped off
feel a whole lot better about the situation.
But hey!
This is why you don’t send strangers on the internet money!
It’s only a scam if you fall for it!
Thanks for watching!
How do you feel about the FBI busting criminals on Instagram?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below and if you enjoyed the
video, be sure to hit the subscribe button for more!
See you next time!
Bye! :)