The Brighter Side of Social Networking
Facebook profile leads to alleged con man's arrest
October 16, 2009
Be careful whom you befriend on Facebook, especially if you’re wanted by the Secret Service. That’s a lesson that a Cameroonian man learned soon after making Facebook friends with a former Justice Department employee while on extended vacation at a Mexican resort.
The man, Maxi Sopo, is charged with stealing $200,000 from banks and credit unions in Seattle. When he discovered that federal investigators were after him, Sopo rented a car and drove to Mexico, winding up at a beachside resort in Cancun, according to the TimesOnline.
Sopo laid low for months, hanging out on the beach during the day and club hopping all night. But then he opened a Facebook account. "LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!!" Sopo wrote in a status update on June 21. “REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE."
Secret Service agents spotted Sopo’s new account immediately. But they didn’t know where he was. That changed when Sopo posted a new friend on his Facebook page, a man he’d met at a dance club. Sopo had kept his account private, but let anyone view his list of friends.
Turns out that his new friend was a former Justice Department employee.
“We figured this was a person we could probably trust to keep our inquiry discreet,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Scoville told Huffington Post.
The former government official didn’t know Sopo well, and didn’t know that he was a fugitive. But he was able to find out Sopo’s address at a beachside resort. He told the Secret Service, who asked Mexican police to go and arrest the fugitive.
“He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies," Scoville said. "He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing."
According to a federal affidavit, Sopo is charged with being the ringleader of a bank fraud scheme that paid conspirators to lie about their income and obtain inflated loans for fake car purchases. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Sopo didn’t just use Facebook to stay in contact with his criminal friends. In one instant message conversation in March, Sopo told one of his conspirators that he had escaped the United States to live in "the one safe place where i can actually think."
The man, Maxi Sopo, is charged with stealing $200,000 from banks and credit unions in Seattle. When he discovered that federal investigators were after him, Sopo rented a car and drove to Mexico, winding up at a beachside resort in Cancun, according to the TimesOnline.
Sopo laid low for months, hanging out on the beach during the day and club hopping all night. But then he opened a Facebook account. "LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!!" Sopo wrote in a status update on June 21. “REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE."
Secret Service agents spotted Sopo’s new account immediately. But they didn’t know where he was. That changed when Sopo posted a new friend on his Facebook page, a man he’d met at a dance club. Sopo had kept his account private, but let anyone view his list of friends.
Turns out that his new friend was a former Justice Department employee.
“We figured this was a person we could probably trust to keep our inquiry discreet,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Scoville told Huffington Post.
The former government official didn’t know Sopo well, and didn’t know that he was a fugitive. But he was able to find out Sopo’s address at a beachside resort. He told the Secret Service, who asked Mexican police to go and arrest the fugitive.
“He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies," Scoville said. "He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing."
According to a federal affidavit, Sopo is charged with being the ringleader of a bank fraud scheme that paid conspirators to lie about their income and obtain inflated loans for fake car purchases. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Sopo didn’t just use Facebook to stay in contact with his criminal friends. In one instant message conversation in March, Sopo told one of his conspirators that he had escaped the United States to live in "the one safe place where i can actually think."
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