Arrested 2 subjects in a group of telecommunications fraudsters

(Baonghean.vn) - Thu and Luan are considered two links in a fraud ring, appropriating property by impersonating police officers and telecommunications employees to notify of phone bill debt and then appropriating property.

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On September 3, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police is temporarily detaining Nguyen Huu Thu (born 1991) and Pham Dinh Luan (born 1993), both residing in Luong Tai District, Bac Ninh Province.

Thu and Luan are considered two links in a fraud ring, appropriating property by impersonating police officers and telecommunications employees to notify of phone bill debt and then appropriating property.

2 subjects Thu and Luan. Photo: P. B

Through studying the methods and tricks of the subjects, officers and soldiers of the High-Tech Crime Investigation Police Team (PC45) of the Provincial Police determined that the subjects used Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), displaying "virtual" phone numbers with the same prefix as the Police's 113 number. With this method, they made it impossible for the authorities to retrieve the calling phone number to serve the investigation.

By tracing the origin of the bank accounts where the victims deposited money following the instructions of the scammers, the High-Tech Crime Investigation Police Team found clues.

On September 1, PC45 executed an arrest warrant for Nguyen Huu Thu and Phan Dinh Luan while they were renting a room together in Hung Yen province.

Initially, the two subjects admitted that they were hired by a subject named Phi (currently in Taiwan) to open or collect bank cards for 1 million VND/card. Then, Phi hired Luan and Thu to withdraw large sums of money from the above accounts and transfer them to a third subject. For each withdrawal, Thu and Luan received a certain amount of money according to a pre-agreed agreement.

Only when they received large sums of money each time they withdrew money from the accounts they sold to Phi, Luan and Thu realized they were participating in a very sophisticated fraud ring. However, because the amount of money they received was so large, these subjects still "closed their eyes" and continued to follow.

The investigation agency determined that the money that Luan and Thu withdrew from the above accounts was money deposited by the victims.

Authorities seized many mobile phones, wifi transmitters, bank cards, passports, SIM cards, laptops and a large amount of cash at the residence of Nguyen Huu Thu and Pham Dinh Luan.

Evidence seized by the police when arresting the two suspects. Photo: PB

Previously, the Criminal Police Department - PC45 received a complaint from a citizen that a group of people pretending to be telecommunications employees called their landline phone number to inform them of their phone bill debt. When the victim questioned them, the group pretending to be police officers informed the victim that they were participating in a drug trafficking and money laundering ring.

This group of subjects asked the victims to withdraw money from their accounts and savings books in the bank and then transfer it to their account numbers. After the victims transferred the money, they withdrew it all without leaving any trace.

From August 16 to September 3, Nghe An province recorded 9 cases of fraud and appropriation of more than 2 billion VND.

The case is being further investigated and clarified by PC45 of the Provincial Police./.

Pham Bang