Mystery of the depositor

As reported by VietNamNet, on the afternoon of February 27, the account of RIIN Group Consulting and Investment Joint Stock Company (HCMC) atACB Bank was withdrawn 95 million VND by a check that was allegedly forged at ACB Hoang Dao Thuy Transaction Office (Hanoi).

While ACB and RIIN Group have not yet found a common voice, on March 5, a stranger called Mr. Nguyen Duy Thinh - Director, legal representative of RIIN Group - claiming to be the person who withdrew the above amount and said he would return the entire amount. Then, almost immediately, this company's account received 95 million VND.

After the article “Mysterious story of a business reporting the loss of its bank deposit, all the money withdrawn suddenly returned” was published by VietNamNet, the representative of RIIN Group, Ms. Mai Thuy Trang, co-founder and Marketing Director of RIIN Group, added that on February 27, the company's account opened at ACB was locked for unknown reasons since the morning, making it impossible for the company to make money transfers.

By the afternoon of the same day, the company contacted the bank to request a new password. But before the password could be changed, all the money in the account was withdrawn at 4 pm.

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The check, which RIIN Group said was fake, was used by a stranger to withdraw 95 million VND at ACB Hoang Dao Thuy branch. Photo: NVCC.

“After the proposal for a meeting between the two sides at ACB headquarters on February 28 was rejected by ACB, in an email sent to ACB, we requested that the bank reimburse the company before March 6, and we are not concerned with the bank's internal handling procedures.

On March 5, an individual contacted Mr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, the legal representative of RIIN Group, claiming to be the person who withdrew money from the check and wanted to return the money. Upon checking, the name displayed on Zalo of this person matched the name of the person who withdrew the check,” said Ms. Mai Thuy Trang.

However, the company representative said it was uncertain whether the person who withdrew 95 million VND and transferred it back to the account was the same person or not.

Notably, the content of the money transfer to the company account stated "transferring money to withdraw a check". Ms. Mai Thuy Trang said that this content was completely untrue.

Therefore, the company took a screenshot and continued to send it via email to ACB to notify the incident, and requested that "if ACB has any feedback on the fact that RIIN Group cannot use this money, please respond before 7:00 p.m. on March 5."

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ACB Hoang Dao Thuy, where the check is said to have been approved. Photo: Tuan Nguyen.

"Does the business want ACB to continue investigating?"

“However, ACB did not respond whether they agreed to let us use that money or not. Instead, they asked RIIN Group to confirm 'do you want ACB to continue investigating this case or not?' We responded that to ensure the safety of the business account that will continue to be used in the future, ACB should proactively investigate and clarify,” Ms. Trang expressed.

This incident raises a big question: if the check drawn was indeed fake, then how could it have been so easy to fool ACB staff? Furthermore, the bank could have completely traced the information about the person who deposited 95 million VND into RIIN Group's account on March 5, even if this person used an account at another bank.

Not to mention, why is it that even though the company account is locked, a stranger can still withdraw money and refund the amount on the exact date the company requested with ACB?

On ACB's side, the bank informed: "On March 5, the customer informed ACB that he had received the money back from the check beneficiary. This was a transaction in which the beneficiary transferred money directly to the customer's account and was not related to ACB."

ACB also affirmed that it always fully implements its responsibility to support customers according to the agreement signed between the customer and ACB on the terms and conditions of using services at the bank. At the same time, the bank has coordinated with the authorities to resolve the incident according to the law and is completely transparent in the process of handling the incident with the customer.

Responding to VietNamNet, an ACB representative said the bank had sent an invitation letter to the legal representative of Riin Group Company to work on March 5, but the customer refused.

Responding to this information, Ms. Mai Thuy Trang explained: “On March 1, ACB sent a document by post inviting the legal representative of RIIN Group to ACB Headquarters on March 5. However, ACB did not clearly state the purpose and content of the meeting.

Therefore, we refused because previously, RIIN Group requested to meet with the ACB authority on February 28, 1 day after the account was withdrawn 95 million VND. We made it very clear that the request to meet and work with the authority on February 28 at ACB Headquarters would only be resolved on that day.

However, ACB did not respond and no meeting took place on February 28 as requested."