Social Media Evidence Suggests Defendant Is Evading Service: DirecTV

About a month after U.S. Magistrate Judge John Love for Eastern Texas in Tyler granted DirecTV authorization to effect service of process of its fraud complaint on defendant Motasim Billah via Facebook and LinkedIn because he's believed to be living in Pakistan (see 2302160055), “it appears that Billah is aware of this litigation and is trying to evade service,” said DirecTV’s status report Friday (docket 6:22-cv-00423). Though DirecTV hasn’t received “read receipts” on the communications it sent to Billah on Facebook and LinkedIn, he remains active on both platforms, “suggesting that Billah received the documents and is aware of this lawsuit,” it said. Sometime between Feb. 28 and March 10, Billah changed his Facebook profile photo, it said: “This demonstrates that he is using his Facebook account.” Screenshots also show Billah commented on several LinkedIn posts in the past three weeks, said the report. DirecTV alleged in a Nov. 1 complaint that Billah was a key player with nine co-defendants in an ongoing fraud scheme in which DirecTV telemarketing impersonators stole money from existing DirecTV account holders through manipulation of gift cards (see 2211010049).