Transferring money via Facebook message from 'daughter' in Dubai, mother lost 2.2 billion VND

On August 6, Da Nang City Police announced that they had just arrested Nguyen Ngoc Anh (born in 1990, residing in Ai Tu commune, Quang Tri province) - the subject whofake Facebook accountof Ms. D.TTP's daughter (born in 1978, residing in Dien Ban Dong ward, Da Nang) to defraud and appropriate more than 2.2 billion VND.

According to the investigation, on July 17, Ms. P. received a message from a Facebook account named “Thao Linh”, which was identical to her daughter’s account living in Dubai. The subject asked her to “transfer money for a customer in an international money transfer service”.

Believing that this was her real daughter, Ms. P. transferred more than 2.2 billion VND into 2 bank accounts provided by the scammer. Only when she called her daughter to verify did she realize she had been scammed.

Upon receiving the report, the Criminal Police Department (Da Nang Police) sent a working group to Quang Tri, where the suspect is suspected of residing, to coordinate with Ai Tu Commune Police to conduct verification.

After more than a week of investigation, the task force identified Nguyen Ngoc Anh as the suspect and arrested him while he was with his family in Da Nang.

At the police station, Anh confessed that he had searched for information about Vietnamese people living abroad, knew their family relationships, and then created a fake Facebook account impersonating the victim’s child. He cleverly set up a money transfer scenario and used “junk” bank accounts to receive the money. The money he embezzled was mainly used for personal expenses and gambling.

Currently, Da Nang Police have initiated a criminal case, prosecuted the accused and detained Nguyen Ngoc Anh for 4 months for the crime of “Fraudulent appropriation of property”. At the same time, they are continuing to expand the investigation and handle related subjects.

Ha Nam