Seizing phone SIM cards and bank accounts to take 10 billion VND

The subjects include Pham Thu Dieu (born in 1991; residing in Cam Ngoc commune, Cam Thuy district, Thanh Hoa province); Nguyen Quang Anh (born in 1987; residing in Hang Trong ward, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi), Nguyen Ngoc Canh (born in 1984; residing in Yen Luat commune, Ha Hoa district, Phu Tho province), Tran Thi Thu Huong (born in 1980, residing in Ngoc Thuy ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi), Nguyen Ha Trung (born in 1987; residing in Chuong Duong ward, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi).

The ringleader is Pham Thu Dieu. From knowing the loopholes in the money transfer transactions through the systembank, the subject had the intention of appropriating money in the account by appropriating the phone SIM card registered to the account owner. Dieu is on bail awaiting trial for raising a child under 36 months old in a case of fraud, appropriation of property, and forgery of seals and documents of other organizations, so he has sophisticated tricks to avoid detection by the police.

The subjects in the case.

To avoid detection by the authorities, Dieu bought bank account information via social networks. Then, the subject lured Nguyen Thanh Tuan to commit the crime. According to Dieu's assignment, Tuan was responsible for remaking the phone SIM of the account owner at the agreed price of 25 million VND/1 SIM. After agreeing with Dieu, Tuan would contact Nguyen Quang Anh, an authorized agent of the telecommunications network; to buy the subscriber information of the phone SIM number that needed to be remade according to Dieu's request at the price of 150 thousand VND/1 SIM.

Next, Tuan bought a fake ID card with the name of the subscriber of the SIM number that needed to be reissued for 1.5 million VND; the subjects Nguyen Ngoc Canh, Tran Thi Thu Huong, and Nguyen Ha Trung used the fake ID cards to go to telecommunications network stores to reissue SIM cards at the agreed price of 5 million VND/SIM.

After taking over the bank account owner's phone SIM, Tuan contacted Canh to have Canh hand over the phone SIM to Dieu. The mastermind installed the SIM into the phone, downloaded the bank's money transfer application, requested a new bank account password, then logged into the account, transferred all the money in the account owner's account to many intermediary accounts, bought and sold virtual currency to launder money, avoiding detection by the authorities.

From May 22 to May 31, 2022, this group of subjects appropriated about 10 billion VND. The case is currently under further investigation.