Lost nearly 100 million VND because of instructions on 'increasing credit card limit'
Because she was gullible and believed the words of an impersonator who called to advise and guide her to increase her credit card limit to receive a shopping voucher, Ms. Lan Anh provided her account number and OTP code to the subject and had nearly 100 million VND in her account stolen.
The Investigation Police Agency of Nam Tu Liem District Police, Hanoi, said that it has just initiated a case, prosecuted the accused and issued a detention order for Phan Dinh Hung (born 2002), residing in Quang Thanh Commune, Quang Dien District, Thua Thien Hue Province and Cao Van Tuan (born 1993), residing in Danh Thang Commune, Hiep Hoa District, Bac Giang Province to investigate the crime of "Using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to commit acts of property appropriation".
Previously, Nam Tu Liem District Police received a report from Ms. Lan Anh, residing in Xuan Phuong Ward, Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, about a person calling her claiming to be a bank employee to advise and guide her to increase her credit card limit to receive a discount voucher when making a purchase. After providing her account number and OTP code to the person, Ms. Lan Anh's account was deducted VND 95,159,000.
Nam Tu Liem District Police urgently organized forces to coordinate with related units to verify and organize investigation activities. After a period of tracking down the case and using synchronous professional measures, Nam Tu Liem District Police arrested two related subjects, Phan Dinh Hung and Cao Van Tuan, in Ho Chi Minh City and transferred them to headquarters to serve the investigation.
The initial investigation determined that in early July 2023, Phan Dinh Hung participated in working in the group "Group 1TD...", on the Telegram application run by a Chinese subject currently residing in Cambodia.
Initially, Hung was assigned to stay in Vietnam and receive orders (cell phones) from major branded cell phone stores. Then, he brought them to used cell phone stores in Ho Chi Minh City to sell for money and transfer money to people abroad. Because of the heavy workload, Hung hired Cao Van Tuan to pick up orders for him.
Some time later, under the guidance of the Chinese subject, Hung and Tuan were assigned by the subject to use the phone number 028xxx to contact and instruct people to upgrade their credit card levels to defraud and appropriate property.
Investigations have shown that the above phone numbers are all through the Internet platform provided by Vietnam, but they make calls and send messages from abroad to Vietnam, impersonating customer care services of many bank branches nationwide. When they instruct people to open credit cards, they actually appropriate the right to use people's personal credit cards to make purchases of assets and convert them into money to send abroad.
Nam Tu Liem District Police have clarified that with this method, the subjects have appropriated nearly 200 million VND from 3 other victims in Hanoi, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa. In addition to the above cases, the subjects confessed to having appropriated from many individuals across the country, with an estimated amount of money transferred abroad of up to several billion VND.
During the urgent search of the two suspects' residences, the police seized 8 iPhone 14 Promax mobile phones; 1 Samsung Galaxy S8+ mobile phone; 1 Nokia mobile phone and 1 computer set. Currently, the Investigation Police Agency of Nam Tu Liem District Police is collecting documents and verifying the victims whose property was appropriated related to the above group of subjects.
