3 Chinese people installed cameras in ATMs to steal bank data in Nghe An

On August 25, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of the defendants: Yang Chang Cai (Duong Truong Tai, born in 1986, residing in Khe Boi village, Tuong Ho town, Thuy Kim city, Giang Tay province, China); Lian Yu (Luyen Vu, born in 1984, residing in Thuy Kim city, Giang Tay province, China); Deng Cong Cong (Dang Thong Thong, born in 1990, residing in Thuy Kim city, Giang Tay province, China) for the crime of "Using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to commit acts of property appropriation".

According to the investigation agency's documents, due to lack of money to spend, Duong Truong Tai, Luyen Vu, and Dang Thong Thong pooled money to buy skimming equipment, blank ATM cards, and computers in China and then assigned specific tasks when they came to Vietnam.

Defendants at trial. Photo: Tran Vu

Accordingly, Dang Thong Thong was the one who installed the skimming device on the keyboard protection panel of the ATM to collect the password input operations of the account owner; the electronic device, used to attach to the top, inside the card reader slot of the ATM to back up the information when the account owner inserted the ATM card. Luyen Vu was the one who removed the device and brought it back to Duong Truong Tai and Nan Kinh to copy the data into the computer, sending it via Wechat software to China for Ly Van. After that, Ly Van would decode it and send it back to Duong Truong Tai and Nan Kinh. When the decode data was available, the remaining subjects used a card swiping machine to scan the data into a blank ATM card to make fake ATM cards, appropriating the assets of customers at banks in Vietnam such as Vietcombank, Techcombank, Sacombank...

During the period from August 18, 2019 to September 11, 2019, Tai, Vu, and Thong found 316 fake ATM cards, appropriating 29 customers from many places such as Hanoi, Thanh Hoa, Thai Nguyen, Ha Giang, Hung Yen... totaling more than 279 million VND.

At the trial, the defendants admitted their crimes. They apologized to the Vietnamese Government and the victims in the case. The three defendants also presented their difficult circumstances, with their wives, children, and relatives in their hometowns waiting for them, so they asked for a lighter sentence.

Before the trial took place, the two defendants Dang Thong Thong and Duong Truong Tai had already tried to influence their families to remedy the consequences, but defendant Luyen Vu had not yet. Therefore, defendant Luyen Vu asked for more time to contact his family to help remedy the consequences and request a reduced sentence.

Therefore, the panel of judges decided to extend the deliberation to give defendant Luyen Vu time to remedy the consequences. After deliberating, the panel of judges set a condition that from this afternoon to tomorrow morning (August 26), defendant Luyen Vu must complete the remedial procedures for the court to consider.