The trick of 'using Vietnamese people to deceive Vietnamese people' of the owner of a transnational fraud company has just been caught by Nghe An police.
The news that Nghe An Provincial Police arrested Le Minh Dung - a particularly dangerous wanted person, the leader of a transnational fraud ring that has trapped hundreds of people nationwide - has received great public attention. The arrest of this subject not only cut off an important link in the fraud network, but also revealed the sophisticated trick of "using Vietnamese people to deceive Vietnamese people" that he and his accomplices had been using for a long time.
Special wanted person
On August 22, 2025, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police successfully arrested Le Minh Dung (born in 1992, residing in Dong Tien Commune, Thanh Hoa Province), while he was hiding in Cambodia. Dung was identified as the leader of a transnational fraud gang, impersonating state officials to appropriate property from Vietnamese people.
Previously, in February 2024, after a period of establishing a project, Nghe An Provincial Police arrested nearly 80 subjects. This is considered one of the largest projects ever related to cyber fraud crimes based abroad. This criminal group has appropriated more than 200 billion VND from many victims across the country.
In particular, Le Minh Dung was identified as the leader, colluding with foreigners to establish and operate the fraudulent company. After his fraud gang was destroyed, Dung quickly fled and hid in Cambodia. Here, he continued to connect and establish new fraud groups to maintain operations, making the arrest very difficult. Therefore, on October 24, 2024, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province Police issued a wanted decision for Le Minh Dung.
After many months of searching, on August 22, 2025, the police arrested Le Minh Dung in Cambodia and extradited him to Vietnam for handling according to the law. The arrest of Dung contributed to cutting off a key link in a transnational high-tech crime network.
Revealing sophisticated tricks
Investigation results show that, around the beginning of 2023, Dung established a disguised "company" in Bavet town, Svay Rieng province, Cambodia (near Moc Bai border gate, Tay Ninh).
The company run by Le Minh Dung has clear departments and is divided into different levels. In which, this subject personally owns and takes primary responsibility for most of the activities. Dung assigned Le Minh Cuong (Dung's cousin) the task of managing and supervising the fraudulent activities.
There are also technical departments, accounting staff and staff who directly make fraudulent phone calls in groups D1, D2, D3.When they first start working, employees are given detailed instructions on how to scam, and after a few days of training, they will start making calls. It is worth noting that most of the employees are Vietnamese, so they can easily imitate their accent and speak naturally to gain trust - true to the trick of "Vietnamese people cheating Vietnamese people".
The main method of operation of the company led by Le Minh Dung is to impersonate state agencies such as the police, the prosecutor's office, banks or network operators. They often call to inform victims that they are involved in a money laundering, drug case or illegal account opening. Then, many other subjects will take turns playing different "official" roles, from investigators, prosecutors to leaders of these functional agencies to reinforce the scenario, creating psychological pressure to make victims confused, believing that they are really involved in the law.
During the investigation, the Police Investigation Agency clarified that the subjects in Le Minh Dung's company committed fraud and appropriated property of the victim, Ms. VTD (born in 1959, residing in Khanh Hoa).
Accordingly, on the morning of November 28, 2023, Ms. D. received a call from a subject claiming to be a police officer, informing her that the police were handling a case related to a bank account under Ms. D.'s name being used for criminal purposes. After Ms. D. explained that she was not involved, the subjects instructed her to report the content to the police (in fact, the subjects were impersonators).
The scammers then instructed Ms. D. to declare her current assets and then go to the bank to open a new account for asset inspection purposes, read the electronic bank account registration information, and the OTP code sent to their phone. The scammers then used this information to gain access to Ms. D.'s electronic bank account. They then asked Ms. D. to close her savings book and borrow money to transfer to the newly opened bank account.
Between November 28, 2023 and November 30, 2023, Ms. D. closed her savings accounts at banks, borrowed money from friends, and deposited cash into the above account. After the money entered the account, between November 28, 2023 and December 1, 2023, the scammers transferred all of Ms. D.'s money, more than VND 3.5 billion, to the company's bank account.
Notably, to increase Ms. D's trust, the subjects also forged financial inspection documents, clearly stating the amount of money paid back to her.
The methods of this criminal group are considered to be particularly sophisticated. They are well organized.clearly divided ranks, assigned roles, coordinated smoothly like a legal company. The subjects combined legal threats with "cooperation instructions" to make the victims lose their ability to judge; used high technology when gaining access to the victim's bank account, quickly transferring money through many banks. At the same time, they also created trust by sending fake documents, deciding to conduct inspections to reassure the victims.
Because of these tricks, hundreds of victims across the country have fallen into the trap. Notably, many of them are elderly, women, or people with little knowledge of technology - people who are easily influenced when hearing about "prosecution", "money laundering", "drug trafficking"...
It can be seen that the successful arrest of Le Minh Dung - the leader of the transnational fraud ring - not only demonstrates the bravery and determination of Nghe An Police in the fight against high-tech crimes, but also serves as a strong warning to the people. In the context of increasingly sophisticated fraud tricks, everyone needs to be vigilant, absolutely do not believe in calls claiming to be from authorities, and do not provide personal information or bank accounts to strangers. Only when the community joins hands to be vigilant and coordinate with the authorities, can the fraud "traps" be truly neutralized.
For 3 days, from August 11 to 13, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial for 37 defendants in a high-tech fraud ring from Cambodia. Among them were many former employees of Le Minh Dung. These defendants were later sentenced to between 4 and 20 years in prison. In particular, Le Minh Dung is being consolidated by the authorities and will be brought to trial as soon as possible.
