Breaking up a transnational crime ring, there was a gold shop that transacted 13,000 billion VND

On April 27, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department's Staff Office said that the Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency (PC01) has issued a decision to prosecute and arrest 13 people for the crimes of "money laundering" and "illegally transporting currency across the border".

Specifically, 7 people were arrested for "money laundering" including: Mai Tra My, Mai Vu Minh, Le Thi Tham, Nguyen Thi Huong, Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Okoye Christinan Ikechukwy and Eneh Davidson Caleb.

Six people were arrested for "illegally transporting currency across the border" including: Pham Van Nhan, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Do Viet Dai, Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Duong Dai Nghia, and Duong Thanh Hieu.

Among them, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy is pregnant so the preventive measure of not leaving her place of residence is applied, the remaining defendants are temporarily detained.

Email spoofing for cross-border fraud

A representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department's Staff Office said that previously, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency received information that a company headquartered in Ukraine was being used by some individuals using an email address similar to the email address of a partner company in Korea to exchange information related to the economic contract that the two companies were implementing, causing the company in Ukraine to misunderstand and then transfer money to an account at a Vietnamese bank and quickly forwarded it to many other accounts and then appropriated.

Following the direction of the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department, the Office of the Investigation Police Agency (PC01) of Ho Chi Minh City Police urgently verified.

On April 11, PC01 Department initiated a case of "money laundering" and "illegal transportation of currency across the border" to investigate and identify. It was determined that this was a criminal gang with foreign elements, with foreign subjects connecting with Vietnamese subjects to commit crimes.

The results of the investigation identified the subjects: Mai Tra My (32 years old, residing in Dak Lak province), Mai Vu Minh (29 years old, residing in Dak Lak province), Le Thi Tham (48 years old, residing in Hoc Mon district, Ho Chi Minh City), Nguyen Thi Huong (34 years old, residing in Nam Dinh province), Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy (35 years old, residing in Hoc Mon district), Okoye Christinan Ikechukwy (39 years old, Nigerian nationality) and Eneh Davidson Caleb (28 years old, Nigerian nationality) as "links" in an organized, transnational crime ring.

By hacking into the emails of companies that are discussing transactions and economic contracts; creating fake emails with names similar (only one character different) to the email of the victim's partner company to contact, stating objective reasons to change the transaction account.

At the same time, subjects abroad directed subjects in Vietnam to establish many "ghost" companies with names similar to those of partner companies to open foreign currency accounts in USD and VND.

Then, they provide the account number of the "ghost" company so that the victim will mistakenly transfer money. When receiving the money in the USD foreign currency account, the subjects in the name of the company's legal entity quickly complete the procedure to convert it to VND and transfer it to the VND account, then transfer it to the accounts of other individuals in Vietnam.

This group withdrew cash and brought it to the Kingfood Bird's Nest Facility on Le Dai Hanh Street, Ward 11, District 11, owned by Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy (41 years old, residing in Tan Phu District) and Pham Van Nhan (44 years old, residing in District 11) and the Duc Long Gold Shop on Pham Van Hai Street, Tan Binh District, owned and operated by Do Viet Dai (53 years old, residing in Tan Binh District) and Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (47 years old, residing in Dak Lak Province) to carry out the service of illegally transferring USD to Cambodia for their accomplices.

Open 700 accounts to receive criminal proceeds

Investigation results determined that the members of the above gang directly or hired people to establish more than 250 "ghost" companies and open company accounts to serve the above criminal activities.

As a result of the investigation, the subjects admitted to opening more than 700 personal accounts to serve this criminal activity.

The police investigation agency has verified more than 100 related accounts, searched 12 locations and temporarily seized many related objects and documents.

In particular, when searching the home of Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy and Eneh Davidson Caleb, 234 seals of "ghost" companies that had been established for criminal use were temporarily seized.

Searching the Kingfood Bird's Nest Facility and Duc Long Gold Shop, temporarily seized more than 9 billion VND, more than 1.5 million USD and other foreign currencies that the subjects used for illegal money transfer activities to Cambodia and illegal foreign currency exchange in Vietnam.

Initial investigation documents show that the total illegal transactions of Duc Long gold shop are about 13,000 billion VND.

Currently, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency is consolidating evidence and continuing to expand the investigation to thoroughly handle related subjects. The investigation process will clarify shortcomings and obstacles in state management to make recommendations and prevent criminal gangs.