HANOI: Nearly 60 people working in a crypto fraud ring that stole millions of dollars from Vietnamese nationals have been arrested in Cambodia and Vietnam, Vietnamese state media said Thursday (Feb 13), citing police.
Online scam operations have ballooned in South-East Asia in recent years, with transnational criminal organisations often trafficking and forcing thousands of people to swindle their compatriots in an industry analysts say is worth billions of dollars annually.
Cyberscam rings often lure people from the region with promises of high-paying jobs but then effectively hold them hostage and force them to commit online fraud.
The busted fraud ring targeting Vietnamese was allegedly enticing them to invest in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin through a mobile app and then pocketing their money, People's Police newspaper quoted police in central Ha Tinh province as saying.
Vietnamese authorities arrested 26 people when they entered the country via airports in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, while 30 others were taken into custody in neighbouring Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.
The date of the arrests and nationalities of those arrested were not given.
According to police, the Chinese-run ring was managed by a 29-year-old Vietnamese national and had organised fraud operations based in Manila between late 2023 and the beginning of 2024.
They had created fake Facebook accounts, luring victims to download an app and invest a minimum of eight million dong (US$315) in Bitcoin, promising high profits in a short period.
As fraud victims began investing larger sums, the gang used the excuse of system errors, taxes or insurance fees to ask for more money, and then blocked communications and kept all the money.
The scammers had "constantly changed their workplaces and residences to avoid detection by authorities", police said.
At the end of 2024, the scammers had relocated to Phnom Penh where their offices were later raided by authorities.
The ring allegedly defrauded thousands of Vietnamese people, stealing millions of dollars, according to police. - AFP
