The Investigation Police Agency, Ministry of Public Security has issued an order to temporarily detain Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (Shark Thuy), legal representative of Egroup Education Corporation and Egame Investment and Distribution Corporation. Also temporarily detained was Dang Van Hien, Head of the Shareholders' Relations Department of Egame Investment and Distribution Corporation.

Both were arrested for "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

The Investigation Police Agency is continuing to thoroughly investigate, expand the case and apply legal measures to recover assets.

To serve the investigation and ensure the rights of the victims, the Investigation Police Agency requests that those who have bought shares or lent money by mortgaging Egroup shares and have outstanding debts but have not yet reported, urgently contact to provide records and documents.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy is known to many people when participating in the program Shark Tank Vietnam broadcast on VTV, with the nickname Shark Thuy.

Shark Thuy's most famous investment project is the Apax English and EnglishNow English systems.

At its peak, this system had more than 120 centers nationwide under the Apax Leaders brand, spread across more than 30 provinces and cities and about 120,000 students.

During Egroup’s operations, Shark Thuy raised capital from many investors with a commitment to pay high interest rates. However, the company later fell into a state of illiquidity, putting many investors at risk of losing everything.

This incident raises big questions about the rights of investors, as well as their own "leniency" in investment activities.

Speaking to VietNamNet reporter, financial expert, Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh - said that Egroup raised capital based on the trust of individuals, while the investors themselves may not have a clear understanding of the law, leading to the capital mobilizer taking advantage of trust to appropriate assets.

“Through these incidents, it can be seen that many people have a subjective mentality, easily believing in 'partners' just based on sweet words or flashy images without doing specific research before investing,” Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Trong Thinh said.

According to him, the legal corridor in Vietnam is quite complete, the problem here is the lack of awareness of those who contribute money. Signing the document agreeing to lend to Shark Thuy, both parties must be responsible for each other; and if they have invested, the investor must become a shareholder of the enterprise.

Participating in TV game shows has contributed to polishing Shark Thuy's name.
Photo: Shark Tank Vietnam.

From the perspective of a legal expert, lawyer Nguyen Danh Hue - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hung Dong Law Firm, Hanoi Bar Association - pointed out that, in the past, there have been many similar cases with a scale of thousands of billions of VND. The most recent case occurred at Sen Tai Thu Group with the amount of money mobilized up to thousands of billions. There were even people who mortgaged their houses and their relatives' houses to give money to organizations and individuals to mobilize capital.

Lawyer Nguyen Danh Hue analyzed that there are two reasons why many people risk losing everything when "paying money" at Shark Thuy's invitation.

First , investors let greed overwhelm reason, seeing the promise of high interest rates, they invest.

Second , not having the skills to judge human nature leads to misplaced trust. That trust comes from naivety and lack of basis. Just seeing someone dressed nicely, driving a luxury car, owning a business with branches everywhere,... immediately thinking that they are talented and rich.

Vietnamese people still have a saying "money goes with the intestines". Money is in your pocket but you give it to someone else to manage without knowing how they do business, almost entrusting your assets to someone else, so the possibility of losing everything is inevitable, according to this lawyer.

Therefore, the most important thing is that everyone needs to raise awareness of self-protection.

“In the current context, it is very difficult for businesses to make a profit by borrowing from banks with interest rates of up to 10% per year. Therefore, raising capital with a commitment to pay interest of several tens of% per year can only be a scam,” lawyer Nguyen Danh Hue warned.

According to Mr. Hue, due to the high risk, no effective business plan, no collateral, of course Shark Thuy cannot/or has exhausted the bank loan limit. If asked why Shark Thuy does not mobilize capital through the bank to pay low interest rates, investors will be able to answer.

According to lawyer Hue, in cases related to the crime of Fraud and property appropriation, the most difficult thing is still handling the recovery of the appropriated property.

In theory, the authorities will investigate and, if the elements of the crime are clear, will require the victim to be compensated by transferring money to the investigation agency's temporary account. During the trial, the court will consider the extent of the victim's damage to return the money to the victim. However, in cases like this, it is often very difficult to recover the money.

In the case of Shark Thuy, the investigating agency must have invited her to work a long time ago. When facing criminal charges, the subjects were willing to return the money to the victims. But the problem is, that money has been dissipated and is no longer able to be paid.

“In my opinion, getting the money back in this case is almost impossible,” said lawyer Hue.