Everybody knows that what you see on Instagram is a heavily filtered representation of somebody’s life.

After all, you’re not posting images of cleaning up turds after your dog, eating crumbs off your chest during a couch-based feeding binge, and other less glamourous aspects of life.

In the case of Ramon Abbas, known as Ray Hushpuppi to his 2,5 million Instagram followers, it was very much glitz and glamour, as he flaunted his “lavish lifestyle of private jets, designer clothes and luxury cars”.

CNN reports that his account showed “a man who boarded helicopters from his Dubai waterfront apartment and walked around with shopping bags from Gucci, Versace and Fendi”, with videos showing him throwing wads of cash into the air.

On Snapchat, he went as far as to call himself the “Billionaire Gucci Master”.

Ray claimed to be a highly successful real estate developer, but as is so often the case with those who talk a big game on social media, the truth is a little different.

A quick look at Ray’s most recent Instagram posts, the last of which was on June 6:

Time for some truth bombs:

…a federal affidavit alleged his extravagant lifestyle was financed through hacking schemes that stole millions of dollars from major companies in the United States and Europe.

His flamboyant posts left a digital trail of evidence that investigators used to link him to the crimes, the affidavit shows.

Last month, United Arab Emirates investigators swooped into his Dubai apartment, arrested him and handed him over to FBI agents, who flew him to Chicago on July 2, federal officials said.

In the coming weeks, he’ll be transferred to Los Angeles — where the affidavit was filed — to face accusations of conspiring to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through cyber crime schemes.

Hello karma, my old friend.

Better still, it was his Instagram posts that made it so much easier for authorities to pull the trigger.

Ray was arrested along with 11 co-conspirators, and investigators seized close to $41 million, along with 13 luxury cars worth $6,8 million.

…federal officials detailed how his social media accounts provided a treasure trove of information to confirm his identity. His Instagram, for example, had an email and phone number saved for account security purposes.

Federal officials got that information and linked that email and phone number to financial transactions and transfers with people the FBI believed were his co-conspirators…

“This case targets a key player in a large, transnational conspiracy who was living an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money around the world,” US Attorney Nick Hanna said in a statement.

Gal Pissetzky, Ray’s attorney, says his client is innocent, and that his extradition to the US was basically a “kidnapping”.

If Ray is convicted of money laundering, he faces up to 20 years in prison, and his bond hearing is set for later today.

Perhaps the lesson here is whilst there is nothing wrong with curating a social media presence that paints your life as more glamourous than it is, if you’re the alleged mastermind of a massive cybercrime scheme, less is more.

[source:cnn]