How sophisticated was the 10,000 billion VND virtual currency fraud ring that was busted?
Authorities have just urgently dismantled a fraud ring operating on the internet with a scale of nearly 10,000 billion VND, stretching from North to South.
The main method of the subjects was to set up a virtual currency exchange called Matrix Chain (MTC). They lured and enticed tens of thousands of people to invest huge amounts of money. According to the investigation agency, this activity was extremely sophisticated, hidden under many complicated layers.
The ringleaders arrested include Nguyen Quoc Hung and Bui Thi Thanh Nga (both residing in Hanoi), Ho Long Tri (HCMC), Dinh Huu Hay (Binh Dinh), and Than Van Hiep (Dong Nai).
Initial investigation results show that since February 2023, Nguyen Quoc Hung hired an anonymous group on Telegram to write software for the Matrix Chain virtual currency project on the SafePal e-wallet platform and the B2B Smart trade platform for $20,000. Hung and Bui Thi Thanh Nga contributed VND400 million to implement it.
To carry out the appropriation, Hung created SafePal and B2B Smart trade e-wallets, providing them to the anonymous group to install into the MTC system as a "platform fee wallet".
Each project participant must contribute $1 to this wallet, which is then managed by Nga. The proceeds are distributed: about 40% to the regional leader, 5% to promotion and events, and the remaining 55% is withdrawn by Hung and Nga for personal expenses.
Notably, when putting the MTC program on the PancakeSwap exchange, Hung kept a SafePal wallet containing about 100 million MTC coins to be able to intervene to regulate the value to stimulate players or withdraw and appropriate USD players deposited.
Hung and Nga also actively organize training for Leader groups and promotional events, build communities on Telegram and Facebook, and continuously call for investment with commitments of "super big profits, super big commissions".
These promises have attracted tens of thousands of participants, with more than 138,000 registered accounts and a total deposit of more than 394 million USD, equivalent to more than 10,000 billion VND.
The embezzled money was used by Hung and Nga to buy many real estates such as apartments, houses, and land in Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Thai Nguyen, and registered under the name of Nga and Nga's biological parents.
Dong Nai Province Police have seized many related exhibits. The case is still being urgently investigated and other subjects are being sought.
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