Several unscrupulous groups are reportedly bagging massive amounts of money from unsuspecting Facebook users through false offers of increasing the number of “like” on pages or groups belonging to the targets of the scam.
Many victims of such fraudulent schemes told the Dhaka Tribune that they paid different groups that sold Facebook “likes,” after being promised that the sellers would increase the number of “likes” to their pages by using fake profiles. However, once the payment was made – mostly through bKash accounts – the Facebook profiles of the sellers “vanished,” they claimed.
It usually costs a Facebook user around Tk2,300 to buy 2,500 likes, Tk3,800 to buy 5,000 likes, and Tk7,300 to get 10,000 likes. The rates are cheaper for buying Facebook followers; 1,000 followers will cost Tk100, 2,000 followers cost Tk150, 4,000 followers cost Tk200, 6,000 followers cost Tk350 and 8,000 followers cost around Tk400.
The sellers also offer likes for photos and statuses, which cost around Tk250 for every 1,000 likes.
Tanjib Khan, a wedding photographer who became a victim to a confidence scam after opening a Facebook page for his business venture, told the Dhaka Tribune: “At first, I did not get much likes on my page, but I wanted to make it more popular. A person posted in a Facebook group named ‘Sellbazaar’ offering to sell Facebook likes.
“When I contacted him, he wanted Tk7,000 for 9,900 likes. He gave me around 100 likes for free at first to earn my trust. Then he asked for the full payment through bKash. After making the payment, I found he had switched off his mobile connection and had also vanished from Facebook.”
When Tanjib found the phone number active again after a couple of days, the seller began apologising for the scam.
“The seller said he came from a poor family and needed money to continue his study. He also apologised and requested me to forget about the money considering him as my younger brother,” Tanjib said.
When Dhaka Tribune called the number of the seller, he picked up and identified himself as a second year student of Mirpur Bangla College, and admitted he had been involved in the business for the past year.
“One of my friend and senior brothers have been involved in this business for the last two years. Each of us has around 20-30 Facebook accounts. We give likes from these accounts,” he added.
Fariba Hossain, another victim of the scam, said: “I wanted to get likes for a page of mine and ordered 2,000 likes from a seller. But I did not get any like after payment.”
When the Dhaka Tribune contacted the number of the alleged seller, he identified himself as a third year student of Diploma in Engineering at Mirpur Polytechnic Institute, and claimed that he had been involved in the business for the last six months along with two of his friends.
It takes around two to three days to provide all the likes, he said, adding that the pages that promote businesses needed to pay Tk550 for 1,000 likes, while the cost for the same number of likes was Tk450 for pages on “love and jokes.”
He also claimed that he earns around Tk 20,000-Tk 25,000 every month through bKash payments.
“I brought the likes from the website addmefast.com for $30-$70. We have to earn points in this website and also buy the points to get more likes,” the seller added.
Asked about the gangs of fraudsters, DMP Assistant Commissioner (media) Abu Yusuf said this was the first he was hearing of such crimes taking place. He urged the victims to notify the police about the crimes and file cases under the ICT Act 2006.