Three Girls Catfish ISIS Recruiters Online, Make $3,300 for ‘Travel’

Three girls from the Chechen Republic have reportedly catfished ISIS recruiters on social media by leading them on with fake pictures in exchange for travel money totaling $3,300 to Syria.

According to RT News, the three young women have been detained and are now under investigation for fraud by the Chechen police E-unit that specializes in monitoring suspicious online activities for crime. However, the real joke seems to be on the Islamic State.

ISIS uses social media to recruit potential prospects to join their jihadist campaign in Syria by targeting predominantly Muslim communities, like those found in Chechnya. Women are frequently targeted by ISIS recruiters and are often kidnapped to be married off to ISIS fighters or to be captive victims of sexual abuse.

The three Chechen women were contacted by ISIS recruiters on their social media accounts and then faked their enthusiasm to join the terrorist group in Syria. The only problem was the lack of travel money, which the recruiters were more than willing to cover for the women. ISIS wired the money anonymously to the women via electronic transfers.

Once they received the transfers, the women cashed the amount and wiped out their social media accounts. The three cons managed to swindle $3,300 from the Islamic State propagandists before they were caught by the Chechen police. Valery Zolotaryov of the E-unit told a local Chechen newspaper:

ISIS, or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, is a radical militant group who have seized control of the area from northern Syria to central Iraq. They actively recruit potential jihadists from Muslim communities around the world including those in Europe and in the US. These individuals become a significant threat to their governments when they travel to Syria and come back trained in combat and with a plan to execute violent terrorist attacks on their home soil.