Captured a group that included foreigners illegally buying and selling bank account information and money laundering

Renting an apartment to launder money

Around October 2023, Zhi Yuan (Chi Vien), whose year of birth and address are unknown, asked Ms. Tran Thi TH and Mr. Lin Cheng Wei, a Taiwanese couple (China) who were living in the Green Pearl apartment building, Vo Cuong ward (Bac Ninh city), to rent a room in this apartment building as a place for money laundering activities - an act aimed at legalizing the origin of assets obtained through crime.

Chi Vien also rented car 99A-669.47 from Ms. Tran Thi TH and hired Nguyen Van Hau (born in 1993, in Luong Tai commune, Van Lam, Hung Yen) as a driver with a salary of 10 million VND/month.

Chi Vien used a Telegram account in Chinese characters, translated into Vietnamese as Nam Nam, to hire Hau to open a bank account, but Hau did not agree. Chi Vien paid Hau an additional 13 million VND/month for Hau to buy other people's accounts for Chi Vien, at a price of 5 million VND/account at Techcombank, Vietcombank, VPBank and Vietinbank.

Hau then used the Telegram account “228386 Locphat” to go online to buy the account. The police determined that Chi Vien also asked Hau to find someone to sell digital currency (USDT) to buy.

From November 25, 2023 to March 31, 2024, Chi Vien hired Lin Xin Ying (born in 2001), Tai Ching Yu (born in 1996) and Wang Pei De (born in 1999) from Taiwan to Vietnam to specialize in receiving and exchanging money, with a salary of 31 million VND/person/month.

To facilitate the communication of buying and selling bank accounts and digital currencies, Hau created a Telegram account group of 7 people, including Taiwanese people. From around December 2023 to April 12, 2024, Hoang Dinh Hien (born in 1999 in Binh Xuyen commune, Binh Giang, Hai Duong), in the group of 7 people above, bought 132 accounts from 38 people who sold to Hau. The account sellers are in Binh Giang, Thanh Ha, Cam Giang districts (Hai Duong) and many other provinces and cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An, Hung Yen, Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Phu Tho...

Lam Han Dinh, Dai Canh Vu and Vuong Boi Duc installed SIM cards into 56 mobile phones to carry out money laundering.

Every day, these 3 subjects stayed in the rented room. When they had USD from committing crimes transferred from foreign accounts, they would transfer USD to a payment account in Vietnamese currency, then notify Chi Vien via Telegram to buy digital currency. This amount of money was then withdrawn abroad.

Huge transaction volume

The police agency has proven that from December 1, 2023 to April 12, 2024, Lam Han Dinh, Doi Canh Vu, and Vuong Boi Duc used 132 bank accounts to receive nearly 6.6 million USD and successfully transferred over 160 billion VND to buy digital currency. The remaining amount before being transferred to buy digital currency was discovered and stopped by the Investigation Police Agency of Hai Duong Provincial Police.

After dismantling the above network, the police seized 56 mobile phones storing 132 bank accounts, 3 laptops storing personal information of account owners, money and some other evidence.

During the investigation, Nguyen Van Hau, Hoang Dinh Hien, Lam Han Dinh, Doi Canh Vu, and Vuong Boi Duc confessed to their crimes, consistent with the statements of the account seller; bank account statements, and physical evidence.

Dai Jingyu, Wang Peide, Lin Xinying, Nguyen Van Hau, and Huang Tingxian have been detained since April 2024 pending trial. Lin Xinying, Dai Jingyu, and Wang Peide were found guilty of illegally storing bank account information and money laundering. Nguyen Van Hau and Huang Tingxian were found guilty of illegally buying and selling bank account information.

Regarding the causes and conditions for the crimes of the subjects in this case, the authorities said that due to the regulations on opening bank accounts and verifying account users of some banks such as Vietcombank, Techcombank... the conditions for individuals to open foreign currency payment accounts are not yet strict, leading to many people taking advantage of opening and selling accounts for bad guys to use. At the same time, the monitoring of suspicious transactions of the bank is not strict enough to promptly detect illegal sources of money, block, recover and report to competent authorities for handling.

Regarding the actions of 38 individuals who opened and sold bank accounts, because they did not reach the level of criminal prosecution, the Investigation Police Agency of Hai Duong Province Police proposed administrative sanctions.