NYC teens carjacked and kidnapped robbery victims after luring them with Facebook ad

A pair of Bronx teenagers came up with a new twist on an old social media scam to launch a Facebook-fueled kidnapping and carjacking spree, they confessed to the FBI — and it could put them behind bars for life.

The terrifying trickery, detailed in a nine-page complaint filed to the Southern District of New York by FBI Special Agent Justin Gray, appears to be the latest in a string of crimes orchestrated on Facebook Marketplace, the social media giant’s popular peer-to-peer sales platform.

But unlike previous cases in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Detroit, Mich., and New Haven, Conn. — where thieves posed as buyers to steal cars that innocent Facebook users offered for sale — the Bronx duo flipped the script, luring their victims with a fake online ad.

According to the complaint, Diante Fernandes, 19, and 18-year-old Mark Francis advertised a red 2019 Hyundai Ioniq for sale on Facebook Marketplace, posing as a seller named “Tagem.”

A victim, not named in the complaint, responded and arranged to meet Tagem for a test drive on Highland Avenue in Yonkers, a residential street of low-rise apartment buildings and old Victorian homes, on the evening of Sept. 26.

A pair of Bronx teenagers came up with a new twist on an old social media scam to launch a Facebook-fueled kidnapping and carjacking spree, they confessed to the FBI — and it could put them behind bars for life.

The terrifying trickery, detailed in a nine-page complaint filed to the Southern District of New York by FBI Special Agent Justin Gray, appears to be the latest in a string of crimes orchestrated on Facebook Marketplace, the social media giant’s popular peer-to-peer sales platform.

But unlike previous cases in Murfreesboro, Tenn., Detroit, Mich., and New Haven, Conn. — where thieves posed as buyers to steal cars that innocent Facebook users offered for sale — the Bronx duo flipped the script, luring their victims with a fake online ad.

According to the complaint, Diante Fernandes, 19, and 18-year-old Mark Francis advertised a red 2019 Hyundai Ioniq for sale on Facebook Marketplace, posing as a seller named “Tagem.”

A victim, not named in the complaint, responded and arranged to meet Tagem for a test drive on Highland Avenue in Yonkers, a residential street of low-rise apartment buildings and old Victorian homes, on the evening of Sept. 26.