Using tap water advertised as a 'chemical for making iron brittle', they swindled 200 million VND from a businessman.
Using tap water for advertising, Vang Chung San and Lo Van Chung defrauded a Chinese businessman of over 200 million dong.
On the evening of March 9th, the Lai Chau Provincial Police confirmed that the Criminal Investigation Agency had temporarily detained Vang Chung San (39 years old, from Lao Cai) and Lo Van Chung (44 years old, from Dien Bien) on charges of...fraud and misappropriation of property.
On March 5th, Mr. Tran Kim Dong (61 years old, Chinese nationality) went to the Ma Lu Thang border gate in Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province to receive a bottle of "iron-making chemical." The chemical was advertised as being able to transform solid metal into fragments in an instant.
Earlier, Mr. Dong had watched a livestream on the WeChat app and saw San performing a fake experiment. In the video, San put a few drops of solution onto an iron nail, and in a short time, the sturdy nail broke easily.
Mr. Dong subsequently spent 60,000 Yuan (approximately 210 million VND) to acquire the aforementioned technology. However, upon receiving and thoroughly inspecting the goods, Mr. Dong discovered that the chemical he purchased was merely an ordinary liquid. Mr. Dong promptly reported the incident to the police.
The Criminal Investigation Department of Lai Chau Provincial Police, in coordination with Task Force No. 4 in Phong Tho District and the Traffic Police Department, developed a plan to verify and apprehend the suspect.
At 7:30 PM on March 5th, in the area of Lai Ha bridge, Le Loi commune, Nam Nhun district, Lai Chau province, the task force stopped a taxi carrying Vang Chung San. Upon inspection, the police discovered a bag containing 6 stacks of money, totaling 60,000 Chinese Yuan.
Expanding the investigation, the police arrested Lo Van Chung, an accomplice of San. At the police station, Vang Chung San confessed: "I know Chinese, so I befriended a Chinese person via WeChat. He told me to film a video advertising a chemical that makes metals brittle to sell to customers in China. The chemical was actually just plain water."
Lo Van Chung testified: “Initially, San sent me a picture of the chemical bottle via WeChat and asked me to order it. I called an acquaintance in Laos to help me order it. When the goods arrived, I contacted San to deliver them. San told me that if we managed to scam that amount of money, after deducting expenses, he would give me half.”
Investigators determined that both suspects had planned the scam in advance, ordering counterfeit plastic bottles and staging the video to deceive the victim.
