Hacking phone SIM cards to get bank accounts, criminal group embezzles hundreds of billions

On the evening of November 23, a leaderCyber ​​Security Departmentand high-tech crime prevention and control (PA05), Quang Binh Provincial Police said that a new fraud crime ring has just been dismantled.

The subjects Nguyen Phat Tai and Mach Thi Nga in the fraud ring are both very young.

Previously, Ms. Hoang TLN, residing in Lien Thuy commune, Le Thuy district, Quang Binh, reported to Quang Binh Provincial Police that her bank account and phone number used to register for Smart Banking service were taken over by someone else, who made orders to transfer 60 million VND from the account to another bank account.

Immediately upon receiving the victim's information, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (PA05), Quang Binh Provincial Police promptly took action.

Through verification, after appropriating Ms. N.'s money, the fraudster transferred money through many bank accounts with different fake account holders, made transactions to pay electricity and water bills, then transferred it to many other accounts to conceal the money flow before transferring it to the final account for use. Determining that this is a new method of fraud and property appropriation, which requires a focus on combating, detecting, and preventing, the Director of Quang Binh Provincial Police Department directed the PA05 Department to focus on implementing professional measures to identify criminals and establish a special project to fight. In early October 2022, the PA05 Department took the lead in coordinating with the Criminal Police Department and a number of professional units of Quang Binh Provincial Police to carry out a plan to solve the case.

The force divided into many groups to move to Ho Chi Minh City, Tien Giang, Tay Ninh, Ben Tre, Thanh Hoa... to arrest, search, summon the subjects for investigation and fight. Based on the evidence and documents collected, the Investigation Police Agency of Quang Binh Province Police issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute Nguyen Phat Tai (born in 1999, residing in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province) for the act of "Using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to appropriate property".

Expanding the case, through the collected documents and evidence, the Investigation Police Agency of Quang Binh Province Police has decided to prosecute Mach Thi Nga (born in 1993, residing in Thanh Hoa Province) for the act of "Using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to appropriate property" and Mach Thi My (born in 1996, residing in Thanh Hoa) for the act of "Illegally accessing computer networks, telecommunications networks, or electronic means of others".

Initial findings show that the subjects took full advantage of loopholes in the management and protection of information and digital content by individuals, companies and organizations to commit crimes.

From August 2021 to now, this criminal group has collected more than 17 million personal data information of other people nationwide, according to groups of regions, areas, titles, occupations, etc. to sell to others for illegal profits. In particular, the subjects illegally collected information of thousands of customers with bank credit loan records, using this information to commit fraud and appropriation of property. They called people to invite them to upgrade their SIM cards from 4G to 5G, then took over access to the phone SIM, restored the login password of the internet banking account linked to the SIM card to appropriate the bank account. Nga and My's group colluded with Tai - a subject who specializes in "money laundering" through paying electricity and water bills nationwide. It is estimated that the number of fake bank accounts used to receive embezzled money and "money laundering" accounts is about 40 accounts with a total transaction volume of more than 100 billion VND.

The case is under further investigation.