Sophisticated tricks of transnational online fraud group, money laundering nearly 9 billion VND
To avoid detection by authorities, Nguyen Phu Yen (born 1984) assigned his accomplices to strictly manage each stage of fraud, money laundering, illegal exchange of account information and illegal seizure of billions of dong.
At first glance, they appear to operate individually, but in reality they are intricately linked, causing many victims to fall into their trap.
Regarding this case, the Investigation Security Agency of Tay Ninh Province Police has just completed the investigation conclusion and transferred the file to the People's Procuracy of the same level to propose prosecuting 9 defendants in the ring.fraud and appropriation of property; illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts; money laundering; illegally collecting and exchanging information about bank accounts; illegally appropriating property. The defendants proposed for prosecution include: Nguyen Phu Yen (born in 1984, residing in Long Chau hamlet, Long Khanh commune, Ben Cau district, Tay Ninh province); Pham Van Nghia (born in 1979, residing in Bau Tram Lon hamlet, Tien Thuan commune, Ben Cau district) for illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts, fraudulently appropriating property; Ngoc Tuan Anh (born in 1997) and Vuong Thi Thanh Hoa (born in 1989, both residing in Yen Lap district, Phu Tho province) for money laundering.
For Ngo Xuan Phuong (born in 1996, residing in Phu Tho village, Quang Phu commune, Luong Tai district, Bac Ninh province) for illegally collecting and exchanging information about bank accounts; Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang (born in 2001, residing in Ngo Dong village, Hong Duong commune, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi city) for illegally exchanging information about bank accounts; Nguyen Thi Trang Minh Thu (born in 1992, residing in Tan Tra 1 quarter, Tan Binh ward, Dong Xoai city, Binh Phuoc province), Pham Minh Duc (born in 1996) and Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh (born in 1988, both residing in Long Chau hamlet, Long Khanh commune, Ben Cau district) for illegally possessing property.
Through the investigation so far, the Investigation Security Agency of Tay Ninh Provincial Police determined that from September 2022 to May 2023, Yen registered to open 9 bank accounts and bought 55 bank accounts of Pham Minh Duc, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Duong Thi Kim Anh, Duong Trong Nha, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ngan, Pham Tan Phuc, Nguyen Thi Hong Gam, Huynh Thi Kim Hy, Pham Thi Anh Nguyet, Nguyen Thi Nga, To Hoang Nam, Huynh Nhat Cuong for an amount from 500,000 VND to 1,500,000 VND/account to sell to Nghia for an amount from 500,000 VND to 3,000,000 VND/account, earning a profit of 25,000,000 VND. After buying 64 accounts, Nghia resold 63 accounts to subjects in Cambodia to use to receive fraudulent money, earning a profit of 12,600,000 VND. The above accounts mainly conduct transactions related to money fraud via cyberspace and have been detected by the police.
Notably, to avoid investigation by the police, Yen asked Pham Minh Duc, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh, Pham Tan Phuc, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ngan, Pham Thi Anh Nguyet, and Nguyen Thi Hong Gam to go to the bank to close the accounts so that others could not use them; the subjects in Cambodia asked Nghia to contact the account owners to withdraw all the money in the accounts to pay them.
During 2 days (May 8 and 9, 2023), the above account holders withdrew a total amount of over VND 2,988,100,000 to Nghia. Of which, Pham Minh Duc withdrew VND 42,600,000, Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh withdrew VND 31,050,000. Duc and Hanh illegally kept and used the above amount without giving it to Nghia.
In addition, Nghia and Yen also actively assisted the scammers in appropriating assets on the internet in the amount of VND 8,901,703,842 from 10 victims. Of the total amount of money appropriated from 10 victims, VND 6,975,499,681 was transferred to bank accounts registered or used by Ngoc Tuan Anh and Vuong Thi Thanh Hoa to buy USDT cryptocurrency for a Chinese person named Hung, in which Tuan Anh made 12 transactions totaling VND 4,074,140,012 to buy 174,140 USDT, Hoa made 23 transactions totaling VND 2,901,359,669 to buy 122,344 USDT from Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang and Ngo Xuan Phuong.
To serve the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies, Phuong illegally collected 366 bank accounts of others, of which Trang registered to open and illegally transferred 41 bank accounts to Phuong. During the process of purchasing cryptocurrencies, on April 27, 2023, Vuong Thi Thanh Hoa mistakenly transferred VND 350,342,000 to Nguyen Thi Trang Minh Thu's account. Thu did not return it and illegally seized and used VND 130,342,000.
The Investigation Security Agency of Tay Ninh Province Police has focused on investigating and clarifying the cash flow and source of income from fraudulent activities of appropriating assets; illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts; money laundering; illegally collecting and exchanging information about bank accounts; illegally seizing assets of the above illegal subjects and freezing 12 accounts with an amount of over 1 billion VND.