Vietnamese hacker group sentenced for stealing credit card information to buy luxury goods.

Taking advantage of their knowledge in information technology, Ba and his accomplices hacked international websites, stealing credit card information from many people to order perfumes and luxury phones.

The defendants in court - Photo: TN

After two days of trial and deliberation, on August 23, the Hanoi People's Court issued a verdict against a group of young Vietnamese men who hacked international websites and stole credit card information to make purchases.

Specifically, Nguyen Duong Son Ba (29 years old, residing in Ba Dinh district) was sentenced to 7 years in prison for the crimes of using computer networks, telecommunication networks, the internet, or digital devices to commit acts of property appropriation and the crime of illegally accessing the computer networks, telecommunication networks, the internet, or digital devices of others.

The defendants who assisted Ba, namely Nguyen Van Hieu (30 years old, from Nam Dinh), Le Anh Viet (22 years old), Tran Nhat Minh (22 years old), both from Bac Giang, and Vu Duy Nam (30 years old, from Hanoi), received suspended sentences ranging from 18 to 36 months for the crime of using computer networks, telecommunication networks, the internet, or digital devices to commit acts of property appropriation and illegal access to the computer networks, telecommunication networks, the internet, or digital devices of others.

According to the indictment, Nguyen Duong Son Ba was knowledgeable in the field of information technology. From 2009 to 2015, Ba participated in many online forums to learn how to hack websites to steal credit card information from foreigners.

During his research, Ba met Nam and asked him to write and modify program code to hack international websites for him.

Subsequently, Ba used the stolen credit card numbers and supporting software to change his IP address to order perfumes, expensive phones, and other goods. Authorities determined that Ba had ordered various items totaling approximately 170 million VND.

To carry out the scheme, Ba hired Viet and Minh to use credit cards to purchase goods and ship them to an intermediary address in the US, paying them 30-40% of the goods' value as commission.

In addition to the above actions, authorities also determined that Ba assisted Nguyen Van Hieu in using credit cards to deposit over 46 million VND into Starbucks accounts, then transferring the money to another individual for resale, profiting 1.3 million VND.

According to Tuoi Tre