TikTok scammers target Syrian refugees in Lebanon with promises of immigration to Europe

Lebanese security forces are warning against criminal schemes on popular video app TikTok that lure people with promises of immigration to Europe then kidnap them for ransom or extort them for money.

A statement (ARABIC) by the country's Internal Security Forces (ISF) on Wednesday said Syrian residents and refugees in Lebanon have recently fallen victim to kidnapping along the Syrian-Lebanese border region. The kidnappers then demanded financial ransom from the victims' families in exchange for their release, subjecting them to beatings, torture, and, in some cases, even death.

The statement said the Information Branch of the ISF  has been actively investigating this matter and has previously arrested individuals involved in these operations.

The Information Branch said tactics employed by the kidnappers to lure their victims from Syria to the Syrian-Lebanese border included creating fake accounts on social media platforms, particularly TikTok, where they falsely promise the victims visas to European Union countries. Once the victims reach the Bekaa region, they are forcibly abducted and ransom is demanded from their families for their release.

Some victims were also lured with promises of illegal smuggling across Lebanese borders and demanding payment for the service. Upon reaching the Lebanese-Syrian border, the kidnappers then seize and abduct the victims, extorting ransom from their families in exchange for their safe release.

The ISF statement warned Syrian residents in Lebanon against falling prey to such deceptive schemes propagated on social media, identifying the TikTok account @ABOAAZAAM235" as belonging to the alleged kidnappers.

Account still active?

The New Arab's Investigations Unit can establish that the account in question is now inactive. However, videos posted by the inactive account appear to redirect to another, @mohamadalsayd6578. While The New Arab cannot verify if they have the same owner, the second still-active account appears to also offer trips from Lebanon to Greece in return for $6500 and other seemingly irregular ways to travel to Europe.

In early July, Lebanon's ISF detained more than 200 Syrians and a number of Lebanese nationals in separate incidents while reportedly attempting to board irregular migration boats to Italy.

The ISF said that the would-migrants had paid between $6,000 and $7,000 per person to the smugglers, and were heading to the Selaata coast in Batroun.

In April 2022, a Europe-bound boat carrying dozens of people fleeing the deprivation and disaster that has engulfed Lebanon in recent years sank, with dozens drowned, many their bodies still unaccounted for. 

Lebanon is home to over 1 million Syrian refugees who have fled the civil war in Syria since 2012.