Identity of 'ghost' company related to TikToker Mr Pips scam

The initial conclusion of the police agency shows that TikToker Mr. Pips Pho Duc Nam and his accomplices created the website "artexvina.co" to recruit employees, building the image of a company operating systematically and professionally in the field of securities investment consulting on international exchanges.

Information from some recruitment websites shows that the page "artexvina.co" was built by Artex Vina Company Limited.

According to the National Business Registration Portal, Artex Vina Company Limited was established on October 23, 2020. The company's headquarters is located at Citylight Tower, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. The charter capital is 100 million VND. The main business line is trade promotion and introduction organization, there is no business line related to securities.

However, by December 2020, the main business line was changed to market research and public opinion polling.

It is worth mentioning that although not licensed to operate in the securities sector, Artex Vina continuously recruits personnel for securities investment consulting, foreign exchange and telesales (consultants, sales staff via phone).

Information from some websites shows that this company introduces itself as a member of a foreign corporation, specializing in consulting on securities investment solutions in stocks of multinational corporations such as Facebook, Apple, Pepsi, Microsoft, Adidas.

Regarding the fact that many companies are not licensed to operate securities but still participate in consulting and calling for securities players, the State Securities Commission previously warned that this agency only grants operating licenses to securities companies that meet the conditions prescribed by the law on securities and the securities market.

Also according to the provisions of the securities law, only the Vietnam Stock Exchange and its subsidiaries, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE), are allowed to organize the securities trading market in Vietnam.

Apart from the above mentioned entities, no other organization or individual is allowed to organize and operate the stock market. In addition, securities consultants and brokers must have certificates and practice licenses to advise investors.

Securities permitted to be traded and listed on the Vietnamese stock market are required by law to meet the conditions for listing and registration for trading and must be approved by the Stock Exchange before being put into trading.

In addition, according to regulations, the minimum charter capital of a securities company in Vietnam is 25 billion VND for brokerage services, 50 billion VND for securities trading, 165 billion VND for securities underwriting, and 10 billion VND for securities investment consulting.

As reported by VTC News, Hanoi City Police recently issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute Pho Duc Nam (also known as TikToker Mr Pips, born in 1990, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau), Le Khac Ngo (born in 1990, residing in Hanoi) and 24 others for the crimes of "fraudulent appropriation of property", "failure to report a crime" and "money laundering".

To date, the city police have identified 2,661 victims nationwide; seized and frozen many assets of the subjects, estimated at more than 5,200 billion VND. In addition, transactions of 125 real estates have been frozen. The police are currently continuing to expand the investigation.

According to the investigation agency, from around 2019, Pho Duc Nam and Le Khac Ngo (Mr. Hunter; 34 years old, residing in Phu Dien, Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi) colluded with a group of foreigners to organize fraud on the platform of websites and international stock exchange links provided by the group of foreigners. This group directed 7 subjects in Vietnam to establish many "ghost" companies, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and several other provinces and cities.

The subjects set up a company in Ho Chi Minh City as a front and about 44 offices in Vietnam (including 24 offices in Hanoi, 20 offices in other provinces and cities). This company did not register to operate in securities and finance but still recruited employees to operate in the field of foreign exchange and derivative securities trading.

Every day, about 1,000 employees work from 8am to 9pm. The subjects create and manage 5 websites with English interfaces to make participants misunderstand that they are trading on reputable international exchanges, creating trust for investors.

These websites are essentially programmed, linked to the bank accounts of the management subjects. Each trading platform is connected to the MetaTrader 4 application, MetaTrader 5 is a popular foreign exchange and stock trading platform in the world.

The subjects recruited, assigned, and decentralized the management of employees in the company into many departments (including accounting, human resources, IT, business, and customer care...). These departments complement each other, contacting customers through Zalo, Telegram... to defraud and appropriate assets.

The scheme of this network is to provide false information to make customers trust, transfer money to the accounts designated by the subjects and then appropriate it. Initially, Nam and his accomplices lured customers to make multiple transactions with low amounts of money, make a profit and then withdraw the money.

Then, they use various tricks to guide and encourage customers to increase their trading capital. When investors lose money, even losing all the money in their accounts, the subjects provide false information so that they continue to have faith and transfer more money to "recover". Until the customers are no longer financially capable, the fraud group blocks communication and appropriates all the money.

Ngoc Vy (synthesis)

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/danh-tinh-cong-ty-ma-lien-quan-den-tiktoker-mr-pips-lua-dao-ar912951.html