Arrested 10 subjects for buying and selling bank account information

Previously, around August 2021, through the work of grasping the situation of crimes and law violations related to the use of cyberspace and high-tech equipment tofraud and appropriation of propertyIn the area, Nghia Dan District Police discovered that Bui Van Nhat (born in 1995), residing in Nghia Yen Commune, Nghia Dan District, had signs of collecting bank accounts of people in Nghe An, Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa, Hanoi and some other provinces and cities with many suspicious signs for the purpose of violating the law.

Evidence seized by the police. Photo: Hong Ngoc

During the investigation, the police determined that Nhat was only one of the links in a chain specializing in renting and buying bank accounts of people nationwide and then transferring them to subjects abroad for gambling purposes, led by Le The Trung (born in 1985), residing in Cau Giay district, Hanoi city. Trung's effective assistants in this chain, in addition to Nhat, were 02 subjects also residing in Thanh Hoa province: Le Van Ha (born in 1992), residing in Dong Son district and Le Trung Kien (born in 1990), residing in Quang Xuong district.

To run his network, Trung established Cuu Chau Company Limited located in Tan Lap District, Phu Tho Province, under the name of doing business in the construction sector, but in fact, this was the place Trung chose as his "headquarters". On the one hand, this company was used to contact and transact with "bosses" of unknown origin abroad who wanted to rent or buy back bank accounts for criminal purposes. On the other hand, it was also the place where Trung and his "henchmen" diligently carried out daily recruitment activities for subordinates and continuously searched for and contacted people in many other provinces and cities across the country to buy or rent back bank accounts, from which they transferred them to subjects abroad.

The ringleader Le The Trung. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Every month, to maintain the operation of the “company”, Trung would directly receive money from foreign “bosses” and then “pay salaries” to employees and owners of rental accounts on the 15th-18th of each month. It is worth mentioning that bank statements show that the amount of money transacted by these rental or resold accounts from the time they were opened until they were discontinued was very large, averaging over 50 billion VND/account, with some accounts trading over 400 billion VND.

Identifying this as a network of "Illegal collection, storage, exchange, and sale of public information about bank accounts", with a very large scale, involving many subjects, many provinces and cities, and even foreign elements, Nghia Dan District Police asked for direct opinions from the Provincial Police Director; Head of the Investigation Police Agency to establish a special project to fight.

After a period of monitoring and determining the right time, under the direct direction of the Provincial Police Department, at 8:00 a.m. on May 16, 2022, 06 working groups with 80 officers and soldiers of Nghia Dan District Police, the Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of Nghe An Provincial Police simultaneously arrested and searched the people, residences and workplaces of 06 subjects related to the "Illegal collection, storage, exchange, sale and public disclosure of information about bank accounts" ring in Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Phu Tho provinces and Hanoi city led by Le The Trung.

The police seized evidence: 20 mobile phones, 08 laptops, 03 cars, more than 1,500 phone SIM cards, 650 bank cards of various types and other evidence related to the criminal activities of the subjects. At the same time, over 1,200 bank accounts related to the subjects in the project were frozen.

The subjects in the case were arrested by the police. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Expanding the project, as of May 30, 2022, Nghia Dan District Police in coordination with related units successfully arrested a total of 10 subjects in the ring "Illegal collection, storage, exchange, and sale of public information about bank accounts" led by Le The Trung.

At the investigation agency, the subjects initially confessed that from 2020 to early 2022, the group had purchased, rented, and borrowed accounts of more than 600 people in many provinces and cities with about 3,000 bank accounts and then handed them over to foreign subjects for use. The police agency determined that at the time of arrest, there were still 633 active accounts.

Currently, the case is still being investigated and expanded.