Woman scammed out of 140 million after phone call from stranger

On December 1, Mr. Pham Quoc Viet - Chief of Police of Ward 5, Ca Mau City said that the unit had received the petition.denounceof Ms. Nguyen Tuyet Hong (born in 1954, in group 6, ward 5) about being cheated out of all her savings by a phone call from a stranger.

According to Mr. Viet, Ward 5 Police are completing procedures to transfer Ms. Hong's petition to Ca Mau City Police for further handling according to their authority.

Invoice withdrawn and transferred money to a stranger's account number after receiving a call from Ms. Hong.

Ms. Hong is a retired official who does not know anyone in Ho Chi Minh City and only lives in the local area. On November 8, she received a phone call from a stranger claiming to be an electricity employee. This person said that she owed more than 58 million VND in electricity bills and was transferring the matter to the Ho Chi Minh City Police for investigation.

Ms. Hong said that when she heard the news, she did not believe it and denied it. However, to verify that she was being investigated for owing electricity bills, this person connected the phone to another person who identified himself as Lieutenant Tan, a member of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Special Task Force.

“I also thought that if I didn't do it, there was nothing to be afraid of, so I agreed to answer this person's questions over the phone,” Ms. Hong shared.

According to Ms. Hong, the person claiming to be Lieutenant Tan said she was involved in a drug trafficking ring and was being investigated. If she did not cooperate with the investigation, that same afternoon, the force would be sent down to arrest her and extradite her to Ho Chi Minh City.

From the phone call with Ms. Hong, the person claiming to be Lieutenant Tan asked her many questions such as whether she had a car, land, house, and savings.

After learning that Ms. Hong had savings, this person immediately asked her to immediately go to the bank to withdraw all the money and transfer it to the account of the HCM City Police Department of Investigation to verify whether the money was clean or not. If the investigation found that it was not related to the case, she would be returned immediately; at the same time, he threatened that if she did not comply, he would take "hard" measures against her.

"Hearing the threats, my mind was also confused. I was confused, unable to think, so I went to the bank to withdraw all my savings of 140 million VND to transfer to account number 12910000428803, under the name Hoang Khanh Chau," Ms. Hong shared.

However, since the transfer, Ms. Hong has not seen the recipient return the money and has not been able to contact this group. Realizing that she was deceived, Ms. Hong filed a complaint with the local police for intervention.