'Super scammer' sets traps causing 5,000 people to lose money

Le Ba Hai, 32 years old, from Ngoc Lac district, Thanh Hoa, graduated from university with a degree in Architecture but did not pursue the profession, but instead sold many items online.online businessSeeing that many people needed to find remote jobs, Hai planned to appropriate property by fraudulently selling blueprints.

He bought Fanpages with a large number of followers, then renamed and redesigned them to match the products he would sell, which were construction designs, and ran ads to increase their popularity to attract collaborators. Under the guise of an architect, Hai recruited more than 50 employees, working at 11 locations in Hanoi and Thanh Hoa. Each office had a team leader in charge, whose income was paid by 1% of the total amount of fraud collected each month. Employees received a fixed salary of 3-5 million VND per week, plus an additional 8% commission if the drawings were sold.

Suspect Hai at the time of his arrest at the investigation agency. Photo:Police provided

This group posted on the Fanpage to recruit collaborators to work online part-time, with a salary of 2-3 million VND per week. Every day, they just need to promote the business of the line on social networks. If anyone sells a drawing, they will receive a 30% "commission" depending on the price. The company receives a 20-30% discount on the value of the drawing, the rest is owed to the collaborator. A design costs 10-70 million VND, a few are drawn by Hai himself, the rest are downloaded from the internet to "offer for sale".

When a collaborator joins the network, someone in Hai's group will create a fake Facebook page to approach them, saying they want to buy construction designs. When the collaborator sends a number of available drawings to choose from, the "customer" chooses one, and makes a document to prove that they have paid 10% of the contract value into the company's account.

The collaborator then reports back to Hai's group and is asked to transfer 70% of the contract value so that the company can send the official design, this amount and "commission" will be transferred back when the customer closes the deal. Usually, the victim will be scammed at this stage. Next, Hai's group will "study the Facebook profile" of the collaborator. When they assess whether the "prey" has money or is gullible, they will let in a new person, using "old tricks" to scam, or apply new tricks.

If the "prey" is considered to have money, after transferring 70% of the contract value, the "original customer" will complain that the drawing is bad or does not meet the requirements, asking the seller to fix it, otherwise the contract will be canceled or the deposit will be withdrawn. When the collaborator reports back, the team leader will ask for an additional cost to fix the design, or if the customer wants to cancel the transaction, they must pay a fee to "remove the copyright" on behalf of the customer.

Some of Hai's "henchmen" at the time of arrest. Photo:Police provided

Many collaborators who had transferred money in advance, eager to get a refund from the company, did as requested, but were tricked even more. After each "acting", Hai's "henchmen" cut off contact with the collaborators, blocked Facebook, and canceled the junk SIM cards used for previous transactions.

Clues about the network were revealed in October 2021, when a local resident reported to the Ha Tinh Provincial Police that while participating as a collaborator selling house designs online for a company, he was scammed out of more than 700 million VND.

Captain Nguyen Van Bao - Team Leader of Team 1, Criminal Police Department, Ha Tinh Provincial Police said that 35 officers and technical detectives had searched the internet for 2 months to find the methods, tricks and identities of the leaders. When evidence appeared, the investigation team sent officers to the localities to verify.

According to Captain Bao, the above scam method is not new, but Hai is an IT savvy person, very sophisticated in choosing specific items to scam. The design drawings are digital products, do not exist physically, and are transacted online, so it is easy to hide the origin. Anyone who is suspicious just needs to block Facebook, Zalo... to erase all traces.

In mid-December 2021, the network's records were fully collected. Through monitoring, the detective discovered that Hai was preparing to expand the market abroad, when he hired an interpreter to create a Fanpage system in Thai. Setting up an office in this country, connecting to the Chinese and Japanese markets... were also considered when the company reached its "coverage" level.

"The clues collected online are only initial information, most of which must be verified in person. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this is not simple. This group is based in rented buildings and offices, has little interaction with the outside world, and the doors are always locked. To approach, detectives must use many professional measures," said Captain Bao.

On December 29, 2021, the Criminal Police Department, Ha Tinh Provincial Police, in coordination with Hanoi City Police and Thanh Hoa, mobilized hundreds of officers and soldiers to simultaneously raid 40 locations, arrest 41 people, and seize more than 2 billion VND in cash and many related exhibits. At an apartment building on Ha Dinh Street, Thanh Xuan Trung Ward, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi - where Hai's headquarters was located, when he saw the police coming, he immediately ran to the gate, intending to get in his car and start the engine to escape, but was surrounded.

Police determined that in the last 6 months of 2021, about 5,000 people in 35 provinces and cities "fell into the trap" set by Hai and his accomplices, the group illegally profited more than 100 billion VND. According to the investigation agency, the victims were deceived partly because of their greed for profit, "dazzled" by the enticements of "easy work, high salary".

On January 19, Hai and 40 accomplices were prosecuted, detained and banned from leaving their place of residence for the crime.Fraudulent appropriation of property, according to Article 174 of the Penal Code.