Scammers selling classic cars online swindle nearly 1.2 billion VND.
On October 8th, the Police Department issued a decision to prosecute and detain Tran Thanh Ngoc and Nguyen Van Hoan, along with several related individuals, to investigate and clarify their involvement in "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Money laundering."
Previously, through investigative work, the Vinh Loc District Police discovered unusual activity from the fanpage "Duy Chuan Classic Cars" and the Zalo page "Tong Duy Chuan," so they established a team and mobilized experienced investigators to focus on investigating and verifying the matter.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Do Manh Dung, Deputy Head of the Vinh Loc District Police, Facebook and Zalo pages such as "Tri Anh Classic Cars" or "Duy Chuan Classic Cars"... all feature the names, images, business licenses, and even bank account numbers of individuals using the same names as their online sales accounts. After posting car sales ads, these individuals purchase interactions and comments with reviews affirming the seller's credibility, leading many potential car buyers to believe these pages are reputable. However, investigations revealed that individuals like Tong Duy Chuan and Tri Anh do not actually own or use these online car sales accounts.
After a period of intensive investigation, the Special Task Force quickly gathered documents and evidence and identified Tran Thanh Ngoc (born in 1993), residing in Lang Chau Bac village, Duy Phuoc commune, Duy Xuyen district, Quang Nam province, as the person operating and using the accounts "Duy Chuan Classic Cars," "Tong Duy Chuan," or "Tri Anh Classic Cars." On September 14th, the Special Task Force assigned three teams to the southern provinces to continue verifying and clarifying the methods and tactics of operation and to apprehend the suspects.
Having gathered sufficient evidence, on September 16th, determining that the time was ripe to crack the case, the Special Investigation Team simultaneously deployed forces to arrest Tran Thanh Ngoc and Nguyen Van Hoan. During searches of their residences and workplaces, the Special Investigation Team seized 6 Facebook accounts under the names “Tong Duy Chuan”, “Duy Chuan classic cars”; “Tri Anh classic cars”; “Tri Anh classic cars from Japan”, “Tran Thanh Ngoc”, “Hoan Hoan”; 4 Zalo accounts all under the name “Tong Duy Chuan”; 3 Binance cryptocurrency trading accounts; 11 bank accounts; 1 Momo account; 12 SIM cards of various types; 13 mobile phones; 20 million VND in cash, along with many other related items.
According to police records, Tran Thanh Ngoc is a repeat offender with multiple convictions. After being released from prison and returning to his hometown, due to his lazy and pleasure-seeking nature, Ngoc used social media to purchase fake Facebook and Zalo accounts, identity cards, business licenses, etc., to use as tools for fraud.
Notably, after purchasing the Facebook account "Tong Duy Chuan" along with images of the Citizen Identity Card, Business License, and Zalo account all under the name "Tong Duy Chuan," born in 1986, residing in residential area 1, Bac Cuong, Lao Cai city, Lao Cai province, Tran Thanh Ngoc bought many more "burner" phone SIM cards to create Zalo accounts also under the name "Tong Duy Chuan," bought "burner" bank accounts, and had others register virtual currency accounts, Momo wallet, etc., to facilitate his fraudulent activities.
Using the Facebook account "Tong Duy Chuan," Tran Thanh Ngoc created fan pages such as "Duy Chuan Classic Cars," "Tri Anh Classic Cars," and "Tri Anh Classic Cars from Japan." He then uploaded images of classic motorcycles like the Cup, 67, Dream, and CD models to advertise their sale, with prices ranging from 17 to 60 million VND. His sales posts included images of these classic motorcycles with attractive designs and reasonable prices, and he ran online advertisements to increase engagement and easily find victims.
When someone expresses interest in classic cars, Tran Thanh Ngoc uses automated messages to request the buyer's phone number, and then the exchange and sale of classic cars are conducted through the Zalo account "Tong Duy Chuan".
If the customer agrees to buy the car, the perpetrator will request a deposit of 3 to 10 million VND depending on the type of car and will only pay the remaining amount upon receiving the car. After receiving the deposit, Tran Thanh Ngoc will cut off all contact, block messages, unfriend the customer, and then convert the fraudulent money into Bitcoin, buying and selling it multiple times to convert the fraudulent money into legitimate cash before withdrawing it for personal use.
According to Tran Thanh Ngoc's statement to the police, he was previously passionate about classic cars and ordered them online, but was scammed. Later, due to heavy debts, he remembered the previous scams and imitated them to defraud others and steal their property.
Nguyen Van Hoan (born in 1995), residing in Bon Bu N'Drung, Dak Buk So commune, Tuy Duc district, Dak Nong province, was an accomplice who actively assisted Tran Thanh Ngoc. Hoan has four previous convictions for "theft of property" and served a prison sentence alongside Tran Thanh Ngoc.
After being released from prison and returning to his hometown, due to a lack of stable employment, Nguyen Van Hoan was hired by Tran Thanh Ngoc to find and purchase "junk" bank accounts, find people to register virtual currency accounts and Momo wallets as tools for committing crimes, directly withdraw cash, and perform other tasks as requested by Ngoc. Each month, Hoan received 10 million VND from Ngoc, with additional "bonuses" if he defrauded more victims.
The police have clarified that, in addition to Nguyen Van Hoan, Tran Thanh Ngoc also hired several individuals with IT skills to help him buy and sell virtual currency, and convert virtual currency to Vietnamese Dong for the purpose of money laundering and concealing his criminal activities.
Initially, the Vinh Loc District Police determined that Tran Thanh Ngoc and his accomplices had defrauded over 200 victims nationwide, appropriating a total of nearly 1.2 billion VND.
