Authorities dismantled a scam group that defrauded hundreds of billions of dong using the "gem-finding" method.
From August 2024 until the time of their arrest, this ring defrauded many people, appropriating hundreds of billions of VND.
On May 9th, the Quang Ninh Provincial Police announced that the Criminal Police Department had successfully dismantled a criminal group specializing in online fraud and property appropriation under the guise of "cutting stones to find gems".
Accordingly, through monitoring the online environment, detectives from the Criminal Police Department of Quang Ninh Provincial Police discovered a criminal group of 30 Vietnamese individuals colluding with some Chinese nationals to establish a network for defrauding and appropriating property online.
The fraud and embezzlement were carried out in the form of gambling on "cutting stones to find gems," and a house was rented in Dongxing City, China, to serve as the location for the criminal activity.
The group created Fanpages such as "Phỉ thúy thiên bảo", "The stone brought about a change of fortune.”, “Raw Jade”, “Rich jewelry”, “Lucky stone"...and organized live streams of betting on cutting gemstones with the aim of finding precious gems, luring viewers into buying betting slots and then misappropriating their assets."
Initial investigations revealed that from August 2024 until the time of their arrest, the ring had defrauded numerous people, stealing hundreds of billions of VND.
The Criminal Police Department of Quang Ninh Provincial Police has identified two of the ringleaders as Tran Thi Chi (born in 1989) and Vu Van Hai (born in 1995), both residing in Mong Cai City, Quang Ninh Province.
After colluding with Chinese individuals, Chi and Hai rented a house in Dongxing city and began recruiting Vietnamese citizens to work in China, offering them a salary of 5,000-6,000 RMB per month (approximately 18-20 million Vietnamese dong).
At the police station, Vu Van Hai confessed that his group consisted of four people: a Chinese national in charge of management and stone cutting; Hai was responsible for sending out phone numbers to receive money from customers and livestreaming to attract players; and another individual used a mobile phone to comment and participate in the game like a customer to build trust with other players.
Initial verification revealed approximately 100,000 money transfer transactions from victims to fraudulent accounts, totaling hundreds of billions of VND.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Hung, Head of the Criminal Police Department of Quang Ninh Provincial Police, this is the first transnational online fraud case where the perpetrators were based in China. To date, the investigating agency has initiated legal proceedings and indicted 30 defendants for fraud and appropriation of property through the "cutting and pouring stone" scheme, with the amount of money stolen reaching hundreds of billions of VND.
"In this case, the Vietnamese defendants, acting as accomplices, voluntarily and proactively participated in the fraud scheme to misappropriate assets, without being coerced, unlike in other cross-border fraud cases."Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Hung informed.
The Quang Ninh Provincial Police Investigation Agency is currently continuing to expand the investigation into the case.
The Quang Ninh Provincial Police advise citizens to be extremely vigilant against online gambling activities in all forms, especially when promised unusually high profits, particularly for residents in border areas. Do not be blindly tempted by material gain and collude with foreign individuals to commit fraud, causing harm to your own compatriots.
