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Victim spots mugger on Facebook's 'People You May Know'

By Mike Flacy Digital Trends
Published | Updated
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(West Midlands Police)

A mugging victim in the U.K. identified their assailant on Facebook's 'People You May Know' feature, which led to the attacker's arrest.

Recognized on the feature along the right sidebar of the social network, 21-year old Omar Famuyide was identified as a mugger brandishing a knife during a car robbery. Police also linked him to to a string of other crimes -- he received a jail sentence of more than 15 years last month.

After the suspect was identified, police in Birmingham were able to link Famuyide to multiple armed robberies and charge him with several crimes. Some of those incidents included threatening women with a handgun in an attempt to rob them as well as stealing a BMW by pointing a gun at the car owner.

During his trial, Famuyide was found guilty of "robbery, attempted robbery, possession of a firearm and possession of a knife" according to the BBC.

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Speaking about the Facebook evidence, Birmingham police officer Rhiannon Daff said "Old fashioned detective work got us most of the way and we were able to build enough evidence to link all of the different items and offences, but we still didn't have a name. It was a crucial part of the investigation when one of the victims got in touch after recognizing Famuyide on Facebook and was the final piece of the jigsaw that we were looking for."

Daff also commended the victims that came forward in order to testify against Famuyide. After the guilty verdict was announced, Famuyide was sentenced to a 17-year jail term for his crimes. Of course, this isn't the first time the social network has played an integral role in the arrest of a criminal. Just last year, police arrested two bank robbers after they decided flashing stolen cash in Facebook selfies was a brilliant idea.