ISIS conned by Chechen women in internet recruitment scam
In a sweet stroke of irony, the three Chechen charlatans used the Islamic State's primary recruitment tool, social media, to advance their devious plan.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JULY 30, 2015 18:47ISIS(photo credit: ISLAMIC SOCIAL MEDIA)
Three female con-artists who swindled Islamic State operatives into forking over their cash in a crafty recruitment scheme have been detained by Chechen police and are currently awaiting arraignment, Russian news outlet RT reported Wednesday.In a sweet stroke of irony, the three Chechen charlatans used the Islamic State's primary recruitment tool, social media, to advance their devious plan. Chechnya, located in the south-west of Russia near the Georgian border, is home to Russia's Muslim majority population and is a hotbed of activity for wannabe jihadists looking to join Islamic State in their war against the West.Feigning interest in joining the ISIS-led jihad in Syria, the three Chechen girls would solicit recruiters online, claiming they didn't have enough money to travel to the Middle East, which recruiters were more than happy to provide via an anonymous electronic transfer. After receiving the cash, the hustlers would simply delete any traces of the their social media account used in the con, according to RT.The three managed to extract over $3,300 from recruiters before getting caught by the E unit within the Chechen police department, tasked with monitoring criminal activity online, Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper reported.“I don’t recall any precedent like this one in Chechnya, probably because nobody digs deep enough in that direction,” Valery Zolotaryov of the E unit told the newspaper. “Anyhow, I don’t advise anyone to communicate with dangerous criminals, especially for grabbing quick money.”