Easy job, high salary trap defrauds tens of thousands of 'stay-at-home moms'

In October of the same year, Nhat and Hieu created many Fanpages under the names of the companies where they were directors, specializing in selling cosmetics such as lipstick, skin care masks, perfume, shower gel... running ads to increase reach.

Under the guise of being successful businessmen, the duo recruited 100 employees, divided into many levels of management, working in many branches in the country such as Hanoi, Thai Binh, Bac Giang, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Ho Chi Minh City. The management group received a salary of 10-15 million VND per month, in addition to an additional "commission" of 13-30%, depending on the number of products sold.

Le Huy Nhat (in black shirt) with a batch of fake cosmetics imported to deceive collaborators, April 2021. Photo: Provided by the police

This group posted on Fanpage to recruit collaborators to work online, prioritizing "mothers with babies", promising a fixed salary of more than 10 million VND per month. According to the job description, mothers only need to post articles and pictures of cosmetic products every day, and if customers want to buy the products, they will import the company's products to sell. Even if there are no customers, they still receive 50,000 VND per day. If there are customers, they receive 100,000 VND, in addition, for each product sold, they also receive a difference of 10-20%. Cosmetics are advertised for sale from 500,000 to 8 million VND per product, this iscounterfeit, poor quality, price 40-50 times higher than actual cost.

When there is a "prey" joining the network, employees in Nhat and Hieu's group will use junk SIM cards or create fake social media accounts to call and text to order goods in large quantities, lie to use them, give them to partners, or import them to resell for profit. After receiving the order, the collaborator will contact the company, spending from several million to tens of millions of VND to import the goods to deliver to customers. To gain the victim's trust, they print out a "guarantee card", promising that the goods will be returned if they keep the card.

When the express delivery unit responded that the cosmetics had been delivered to the collaborators, the company and the original "customer" immediately cut off contact and canceled their social media accounts. The victim could not return the poor quality goods that had been ordered, because the transaction address listed on the documents was fake.

Clues about the network were revealed in early 2021, when Ha Tinh police discovered a group of young men and women in the area who often gathered together to party, showing signs of economic ambiguity. Police later determined that this group was participating in a large-scale online fraud organization.

Some "henchmen" in the ring at the investigation agency. Photo: Provided by the police

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Phi Hai, Head of the Criminal Police Department, Ha Tinh Police, said that the Investigation Committee mobilized hundreds of officers to investigate the identities and clues. Through the process of checking from the internet to real life, the detectives determined that the group of young men in Ha Tinh were only first-level managers and employees under Nhat and Hieu.

The trick of buying cheap cosmetics, then recruiting collaborators to trick people into importing the goods at prices many times higher than the actual price and then "bombing" the goods is very difficult to prove, because it is simply a buying and selling transaction. Some agencies that have received complaints from victims have stepped in to investigate, but there is not enough solid evidence to convict, Mr. Hai said.

In addition, Nhat and Hieu rarely contacted their subordinates and delegated authority to trusted assistants. When they felt passive, they would erase all traces. One aspect that made it difficult for the investigation agency was that many victims were ashamed and afraid that their families would find out, so they refused to cooperate.

After four months, the case file and the portraits of the two "super swindlers" disguised as directors were built by the detectives. At this time, the network had spread to more than 45 provinces and cities. Realizing that Nhat and Hieu wanted to "cover" the whole country, opening dozens of branches in some big cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the task force decided to cut off the "octopus tentacles" before they could reach far.

In mid-April 2021, Ha Tinh police mobilized hundreds of officers and soldiers, divided into many working groups, simultaneously attacked dozens of locations in many provinces and cities, arrested nearly 40 people, seized 3.6 billion VND in cash and many related exhibits. On a major road in Hanoi, while Nhat and Hieu were driving on the road, they were surrounded by police and asked to go to the investigation agency to make a statement.

"Nhat and Hieu initially always insisted that importing goods to sell to collaborators was just a civil transaction," said the head of the Criminal Police Department, Ha Tinh Police, adding that after a few days of "testing their courage", the two "super scammers" confessed their crimes.

Police determined that from the time they started operating in 2018 until they were wiped out, Nhat and Hieu and their accomplices had defrauded tens of thousands of people in 45 provinces and cities across the country, illegally profiting hundreds of billions of dong. In the last 6 months of 2020 alone, the number of victims was more than 3,000.

According to the investigation agency, on average, a victim is scammed out of about 7-8 million VND, and in some cases, because they want to "recover", they lose tens of millions of VND. Regarding the cause, in addition to being gullible, some people are also greedy for profit, believing in the false promise of "do less, get more" or "easy work, high salary" and "fall into the trap".

Nhat and Hieu and their accomplices were prosecuted, detained and banned from leaving their place of residence for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property, according to Article 174 of the Penal Code.

The case is under investigation, from July 2021 to now, dozens more "henchmen" of the network have been caught.