'7 days to build trust' trick to approach single women of transnational fraud organization

The Investigation Police Agency of Ha Tinh Province Police has decided to prosecute 50 defendants for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

This is a group of defendants belonging to a fraud ring in the form of investing in Bitcoin cryptocurrency on the UNISAT application and fraudulently performing TikTok tasks, operating in a sophisticated, transnational manner, causing particularly serious damage to many victims.

7 days to build trust

According to the testimony of Nguyen Quang Phuong (born in 1995, residing in Bac Giang province), in early 2024, Phuong joined a transnational fraud organization based in Manila, Philippines. Here, Phuong was instructed by the Chinese owner to train the Vietnamese manager and instruct him on detailed fraud scenarios.

Phuong used fake Facebook accounts, disguised as a successful businesswoman, to approach middle-aged Vietnamese women - often single and emotionally deprived. According to the trained script, Phuong applied the "7-day trust building" scenario, gradually establishing a close relationship with the victims.

Accordingly, on the first day, the scammers searched for potential "prey" to text and get to know them, exchange and talk to find out their interests and find out about their family issues. On the second day, messages of good morning, noon and evening greetings were continuously sent to customers.

On the third day, Nguyen Quang Phuong sent photos of his lavish lifestyle under the guise of successful businessmen working abroad. Hours-long conversations and sincere inquiries gradually made the victims open up.

Once gaining trust, the subject shared his "secret to success", convincing the victim to invest in Bitcoin on the UNISAT exchange with the promise of a bright future.

The promise - "Together towards the future" was used by Nguyen Quang Phuong as bait, making the victims believe that they were not only investing financially but also entering a serious, sustainable relationship.

At this stage, if the customer agrees, the scammer will report to the superiors to offer packages for the customer to invest in. When the victim spends money on investment, in many different ways, this group will inform the customer that the information is incorrect so that they cannot withdraw money and have their assets stolen.

To defraud victims of large sums of money, when customers invest for the first time, the scammers will pay the profits. After that, the victims trust and see the profit, so they will continue to invest with larger amounts.

Specifically, at the first level, scammers call on customers to invest $500 and receive a profit of 30% of the total amount invested. This profit will be sent to the customer's account to gain trust.

When the customer trusts, the scam group guides them to upgrade to a VIP investment package of 5,000 USD and enjoy a 30% profit rate. The profit from this investment will continue to be transferred to the customer's account.

The scammers then continue to guide customers to larger investments, until the customer shows signs of suspicion or is no longer able to invest, the scammer organization will "kill the customer" - that is, block communication, lock the trading account, appropriate all the victim's money and then disappear.

Sophisticated tricks

According to the investigation results, from late 2023 to early 2024, many Vietnamese citizens went to the Philippines to work for a Chinese-led fraud organization in Manila, Philippines.

This group organized professional fraud offices, divided into many departments with managers, team leaders, employees and technical support teams. The subjects constantly changed their workplace and residence to avoid detection by authorities.

To carry out the fraud, this group created fake Facebook accounts, impersonating successful businessmen, showing off images of wealth to gain the victims' trust. After getting acquainted, the subjects lured the victims to download the UNISAT application, participate in investing in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin with a minimum of 8 million VND to enjoy high profits in a short time.

Initially, the victims were allowed to withdraw both principal and interest to strengthen their trust. When they invested a larger amount, they used the excuse of system errors, taxes, insurance fees, etc. to ask for more money, then blocked communication and appropriated all the money the victims had paid.

The subjects are assigned clear tasks, from creating Facebook accounts, cultivating fraudulent images, to coordinating deposit and withdrawal activities. When a new person joins this organization, the team leader will provide a scam scenario, instructing how to interact with the victim.

The "backstage" department controls the transactions and decides whether or not to allow victims to withdraw money. With sophisticated and professional methods of operation, this international fraud organization has defrauded thousands of Vietnamese victims, appropriating hundreds of billions of dong.

According to documents and investigation evidence, among the ringleaders, Nguyen The Anh (born in 1996, residing in Yen Bai province) participated in the fraud organization in the Philippines since April 2023. This person played the role of manager, operating all the fraud activities of more than 80 Vietnamese people under the direction of the Chinese owner.

Nguyen The Anh directly managed the team leaders, instructed employees to commit fraud, provided computers, phones, and fake Facebook accounts for the fraud teams to use. At the same time, the subject was also responsible for managing the sales of the group under his authority, ensuring profits from illegal activities.

The police have also dismantled an important link in the system, the technical department, responsible for "feeding Facebook" to serve the entire fraud ring.

Nguyen Van Dong (born in 2000, residing in Bac Giang province) is a subject in this chain, participating in the fraud organization since July 2023, and was assigned by the Chinese owner to manage and operate hundreds of fake Facebook accounts.

Dong is responsible for taking over the purchased Facebook account IDs, taking over logins, and converting them into fraudulent accounts, handing them over to employees for use. When accounts are locked due to Facebook policies or system errors, Dong is responsible for restoring them, fixing the interface and posts to ensure that the new accounts look exactly like the old ones, helping the fraud process not be interrupted.

To destroy this transnational fraud ring, detectives from the Criminal Police Department of Ha Tinh Police monitored, applied synchronous professional measures, and followed the trail for many months.

When the opportunity was ripe, at the end of 2024 and the beginning of January, the police raided the scammers' hideout in the capital Phnom Penh (Cambodia), controlling and arresting 30 suspects.

At Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City) and Noi Bai (Hanoi) airports, police blocked and controlled 26 more subjects when this group had just returned from the Philippines.

The case is being further investigated by the authorities.