Unexpected developments in the case of the bust of a gang selling lottery numbers and betting slips on Facebook.

Based on a report from a victim.

On the morning of January 15th, the Criminal Investigation Agency of Nghi Loc District Police received a report from a 23-year-old woman named BTT from Nghi Quang commune, Nghi Loc district, who stated that she had been defrauded of a large sum of money by several individuals via the internet.

Ms. T recounted that in late December 2017, through Facebook, she learned that Nguyen Cong Thuan's Facebook account contained information posted on his personal page indicating he worked for a lottery company, so she messaged him to inquire about it.

The Facebook account holder, Nguyen Cong Thuan, introduced himself as an employee of the Northern Lottery Company, located at 1 Tang Bat Ho Street, Hanoi, and claimed to be able to predict and provide accurate and reliable lottery numbers.

If Ms. T wanted to receive lottery numbers, including three-digit numbers, in advance, she had to send a fee at varying amounts. After Ms. T agreed to the transaction, the perpetrator instructed her on how to transfer the money via Viettel phone scratch cards through a Facebook message.

The group of fraudsters was arrested at an internet cafe located at 162 Ly Thai To Street, Zone 1, An Hoa Ward, Hue City. (Photo provided by the investigating agency)

Ms. T bought 5 phone top-up cards, each worth 1 million VND, to try her "luck." After receiving all the top-up cards and serial numbers from Ms. T, Facebook user Nguyen Cong Thuan used various excuses to repeatedly ask Ms. T to transfer more money and her phone number to complete the procedure for obtaining the numbers.

Later, Ms. T received another phone call from someone who introduced himself as the Deputy Director of the Northern Lottery Company, where Nguyen Cong Thuan worked. This person also said that Ms. T had to block him on Facebook and only work with him. He then requested that Ms. T transfer 100 million VND via phone top-up cards, sent to a Facebook message under the name Ho Cong Huy.

On January 1st, the person posing as Ho Cong Huy again requested Ms. T to send another 30 million VND "to process the paperwork for her to become director." Ms. T agreed, and after transferring the money, she received a phone call from a different number, with the caller identifying himself as Nguyen Van Hoang - Director of the Northern Lottery Company, where Ho Cong Huy worked.

This person requested Ms. T to transfer 50 million VND via phone card through a Facebook message from Ho Cong Huy. A day later, the person claiming to be Nguyen Van Hoang requested Ms. T to transfer another 50 million VND in exchange for a phone number.

Wanting to recover her lost money, Ms. T agreed to transfer funds to this individual, but received only silence in return. On January 3rd, Nguyen Van Hoang requested Ms. T to transfer another 50 million VND to process the recovery of the money she had previously sent. Ms. T agreed to comply.

On January 4th, another phone call came to Ms. T, the caller claiming to be Nguyen Manh Chien, an employee of the Northern Lottery Company. The caller requested Ms. T transfer 80 million VND to him for lottery numbers. Ms. T agreed and transferred 80 million VND using a Viettel phone top-up card via a Facebook account named Nguyen Manh Chien, but then all contact was lost, and Ms. T realized she had been scammed.

The subjectsNguyen Phuc and Le Nhat RonPhoto: Nhat Tuan

Scammers selling lottery numbers and betting slips on Facebook swindle hundreds of millions of dong.

(Baonghean.vn) - A group of individuals created fake Facebook accounts, posing as employees, deputy directors, and directors of the Northern Lottery Company, claiming to know and provide accurate lottery numbers, then defrauded gullible people of their money.

Nine teenagers arrested for selling counterfeit money via Facebook.

The group created multiple Facebook accounts to sell counterfeit money online at a rate of 1 real bill for 10 counterfeit bills; they required buyers to pay 50% in real money upfront before receiving the counterfeit money and proceeded to scam them.

Establish a special task force to combat the crime.

Through investigative measures, the investigating agency verified that Ms. T's report was true and showed signs of "fraudulent appropriation of property" using high technology. Recognizing the serious nature of this fraud case and the large amount of money involved, the Nghi Loc District Police leadership established Special Case No. 118L to combat it.

Based on the collected internet-related technical documents, the investigation team determined that a group of individuals were using an internet cafe at 162 Ly Thai To Street, Area 1, An Hoa Ward, Hue City to access the internet and carry out fraudulent activities.

Under the direction of the Provincial Police Directorate, the special task force deployed detectives to Hue to search all locations and areas where the suspects might hide or socialize after swindling money from their victims, such as hotels, guesthouses, and internet cafes.

Through the review process, a list of 16 individuals with complete information regarding their background, personal details, modus operandi, relationships, Facebook accounts, and specific phone numbers used to carry out the fraud has been compiled.

After thoroughly verifying and understanding the methods and tactics of each suspect, the special task force determined that on the night of January 29th, the suspects gathered at an internet cafe located at 162 Ly Thai To Street, Area 1, An Hoa Ward, Hue City, to access the internet and continue their fraudulent activities. Therefore, the special task force, in coordination with the Criminal Police force of Hue City Police, approached the location.

As expected, at 8 PM that same day, the members of the fraud group arrived at the internet cafe. The Nghi Loc District Police leadership decided to crack the case.

Cast the net

While waiting for the suspects to be glued to their computer screens committing fraudulent acts, law enforcement officers raided the premises, discovering and arresting 16 individuals involved in online money scams such as providing lottery numbers and demanding victims pay via mobile phone cards; and online scams involving the sale of counterfeit money, weapons, and related equipment.

During the investigation, the special task force identified five individuals involved in the fraud case against the victim BTT in Nghi Quang commune, Nghi Loc district, including: Le Van Vinh Tu (born in 2002), Nguyen Phuc (born in 1995), Le Nhat Ron (born in 1995), Le Tan Phi (also known as Bon) (born in 2002), all residing in An Hoa ward; and Vo Huy Hieu (born in 2001), residing in Group 2, Area 1, Hue City.

The Nghi Loc District Police have completed the procedures for the two suspects. Photo: Nhat Tuan

Of these, Nguyen Phuc and Le Nhat Ron were taken to the Nghi Loc District Police Station for temporary detention for investigation. The three suspects Tu, Huy, and Hieu were handed over to their families for supervision as they were under 18 years old. Eleven other suspects, who had committed online offenses such as fraud, gambling, selling counterfeit money, and selling weapons, and whose activities were unrelated to the crimes in Nghi Loc District, were handed over to the Hue City Police for processing.

Through questioning, the suspects confessed to committing the crime of defrauding Ms. T in Nghi Quang commune. Specifically: In December 2017, Le Van Vinh Tu created a Facebook account named Nguyen Cong Thuan, impersonating an employee of the Northern Lottery Company. He approached, befriended, and gained Ms. T's trust before defrauding her as described above.

The perpetrator used excuses such as needing more money for paperwork, delayed phone top-up, paperwork issues, needing more money for procedures to get a winning number, or needing money for refund procedures if the number didn't win, or needing fees to send to the accountant to expedite the refund process… Using this tactic, Le Van Vinh Tu directly defrauded Ms. T of 80 million VND.

Next, Nguyen Phuc obtained Ms. BTT's phone number from Le Van Vinh Tu, called her, and introduced himself as the deputy director. Phuc told Ms. T that Nguyen Cong Thuan had been fired for fraud and asked her to transfer money to him to obtain lottery numbers. After receiving the money, he gave various excuses such as insufficient funds or procedural issues requiring more money. If Ms. T requested a refund, he would claim he needed the money to process the paperwork for a refund. Phuc defrauded Ms. T of over 80 million VND.

On January 3rd, Le Nhat Ron obtained Ms. T's phone number from Le Van Vinh Tu, called Ms. T, and introduced himself as the director of the Northern Lottery Company. Ron tried to build trust and repeatedly asked Ms. T to transfer money to him via phone cards, totaling over 127 million VND.

After receiving the phone scratch cards from Ms. T, the suspects asked Le Tan Phi to enter the codes and serial numbers of the scratch cards into Le Van Vinh Tu's account on doithe.vn and withdraw the money from the bank. Phi received 3 million VND as a reward from the suspects. After seeing Le Vinh Tu using a fake Facebook account to obtain a large amount of money from Ms. T, Vo Huy Hieu created a Facebook account under the name Nguyen Manh Chien and then approached Ms. T to scam her.

Using similar tactics as the aforementioned individuals, Hieu defrauded Ms. T of 80 million VND in phone top-up cards.

During the investigation, the special task force determined that the suspects had defrauded Ms. T of approximately 375 million VND. In addition, the suspects had also defrauded many other victims nationwide.

The investigation into this case is currently being expanded.