Barber Pham Van Bac's dream of owning a car (Tan Uyen district, Lai Chau province) was instantly shattered when a group of online scammers used sophisticated tricks to steal his entire fortune.
In 2024, Lai Chau Provincial Police achieved success when they coordinated with Cambodian forces to crack down on a transnational fraud case in Venus2, Bavet City, Svay Rieng Province, Cambodia. The case was assessed by the Ministry of Public Security as contributing to reducing the risk of thousands of victims being abused, while also fostering good relations between the functional forces of Vietnam and Cambodia in preventing and combating crime.
VietNamNet launched a series of articles called "Going abroad to solve crimes" to record the journey of the police force to dismantle criminals and the nerve-wracking moments of raiding criminal dens.
Falling into a scam trap, losing 200 million VND
At noon on June 3, 2024, Pham Van Bac's (victim's name has been changed) barber shop was empty. As usual, he turned on his phone to watch an introduction to cars - the dream of him and his family.
When the Facebook application showed information about selling cheap cars liquidated by customs from the account "Nam Mien Trung 666", Mr. Bac clicked to view and expressed his need to buy the car.
Through discussion, knowing that Mr. Bac was looking into the 2023 Ford Everest, the above account quickly sent him a series of pictures of the car model and quoted an unbelievably cheap price - 266 million VND (market price over 1 billion VND).
Mr. Bac asked about the documents and legality to feel secure in paying, and the account "Nam Mien Trung 666" provided a series of information proving the reputation of the car distribution company. Notably, when accessing the company's website, Mr. Bac watched a video with the VTV1 logo broadcasting the news that the company had successfully auctioned a batch of cars liquidated by customs.
Faced with very convincing information, Mr. Bac decided to buy the car and put down a deposit.
Then, a person who introduced himself as the company's department head called Mr. Bac to get his personal information to make a sales contract. After completing this process, Mr. Bac received a picture of the car and a contract with the company's red seal.
From June 9-10, 2024, Mr. Bac transferred a total of 200 million VND to the subjects and waited for the car to be delivered to his home.
On June 11, 2024, a person who introduced himself as a driver took pictures of the vehicle transport route and arrived in Lao Cai.
However, many hours later, the car Mr. Bac had been waiting for day and night was still "missing". At this time, Mr. Bac was shocked to realize that he had been tricked out of the money he had saved for many years. He did not expect that with just a 'click' on social media, he would fall into a trap and lose 200 million VND.
Exposing the tricks of technology "wizards"
At noon on June 12, 2024, the Tan Uyen District Police on duty received a report about Mr. Bac being scammed. From Mr. Bac's criminal complaint, the police force followed the first clue to expose the criminal organization.
The police force determined that in the above fraud ring, there was a subject with good technology who cut, pasted and faked VTV1 news.
Receiving the initial investigation report from Tan Uyen District Police, Colonel Nguyen Viet Giang - Director of Lai Chau Provincial Police chaired a meeting to direct units to focus on destroying the criminal ring.
During the verification process, the police created a portrait of the leader of the fraud ring, Duong Van Thanh (39 years old, from Thai Nguyen).
About 2 months after launching a special manhunt, on September 12, 2024, Thanh was arrested at Moc Bai Border Gate (Tay Ninh Province) while entering Vietnam.
Working with the police, Thanh confessed to running a group of scammers who sold cars from customs clearance at cheap prices. In a short time, Thanh's group had appropriated more than 6 billion VND from many Vietnamese victims.
In the case of Mr. Bac being scammed out of 200 million VND, Thanh stated that there were 5 people who participated in playing roles according to the script. Among them, the most important person in the group was known as the "technology wizard". That was Kieu Quang Son (31 years old, from Vinh Phuc) - the person who directly forged business registration certificates, contracts, citizen identification images, and created fake clips of VTV1 news content.
In September 2024, police raided the house and arrested Son to assist in the investigation.
Son said that although he only finished 12th grade, he learned on his own to create websites, fake clips, and cut and paste documents. Son posted his fake services on social media and Thanh approached him to "order".
With the collected evidence, the Director of Lai Chau Provincial Police decided to establish a special investigation project coded 0924L, headed by Colonel Pham Hai Dang - Deputy Director of the Provincial Police.
In the process of tracking down the suspect, the detectives had to go to 16 provinces and cities, working with many agencies and organizations to collect information, documents, and clues to connect and build a group of suspects.
Closely following the project, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Long, Deputy Minister of Public Security, directed professional units and police of provinces and cities to coordinate with the project team to dismantle the criminal ring.
From September 17 to October 20, 2024, the crime-solving force arrested 5 of Thanh's accomplices.
After initiating the case, the Investigation Committee determined that the criminal gang was operating in the BaVet City area, Svay Rieng Province, Kingdom of Cambodia. From there, a "foreign" investigation was set up with many thrilling and dramatic details to close the net, forcing the fraudsters to bow their heads and confess their crimes.
Part 2: Police Colonel tells about 5 hours of raid on a scam den in Cambodia
The 'chilling' road along the edge of the abyss where the commune police stick to the village
Unforgettable memories of a Captain from Hanoi volunteering to go to the border
Roundtable: The mark of regular police helps transform border communes
Lieutenant General To An Xo: Regular communal police are a pillar of peace in border areas.
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/phu-thuy-cong-nghe-bop-nat-giac-mo-xe-hop-cua-nguoi-tho-cat-toc-2366016.html
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