The ring that used ghost money to sell counterfeit money defrauded about 6,900 people nationwide, illegally profiting more than 6 billion VND.
Bao Loc City Police, Lam Dong Province, has issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused, and issue an arrest warrant to temporarily detain 14 subjects to investigate the act of “fraudulent appropriation of property”.
Among the 14 subjects prosecuted, Bao Loc City Police identified Pham Minh Thanh (26 years old), Nguyen Huu Nghia (34 years old), To Hoang Bao Thuy (24 years old), all residing in Bao Loc City, Lam Dong Province; Tran Hoai Tien (32 years old), residing in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City, and Nguyen Hoai Tam (24 years old), residing in Bao Lam District, Lam Dong Province, as the masterminds and leaders of this fraud ring.
Through reconnaissance work and crime reports from the public about a group of people advertising counterfeit money on Facebook. Through initial investigation, Bao Loc City Police determined that this was a large-scale network with many groups of people operating together with extremely sophisticated and cunning tricks.
Realizing the seriousness of this type of crime of fraud and property appropriation with sophisticated tricks and methods on cyberspace, the Board of Directors of Lam Dong Provincial Police has directed Bao Loc City Police to coordinate with professional departments to set up a special project to combat and eradicate it.
Police forces searched the locations of the ring using ghost money to defraud and sell counterfeit money via social networks. Photo: Ministry of Public Security
After collecting documents and evidence, on July 24, 2024, 4 working groups with over 40 officers and soldiers simultaneously raided 4 locations of this fraud ring at rental houses on Phan Dinh Giot, Tran Quoc Toan, Tran Phu streets and Tan Hoa 1 village, Loc Nga commune, Bao Loc city.
Through searching the 4 locations above, the police seized 15 desktop computers, 10 ATM and Visa cards, 19 mobile phones, 8 SIM cards, many sacks containing many pieces of paper with notes of hell money in denominations of 200,000 VND and many paper boxes containing deodorant granules and cement packaged with hell money.
Ghost money is used by criminals to stick on the surface of boxes and packages delivered to customers to buy fake money to scam them. Photo: Ministry of Public Security
During the investigation, the subjects confessed that from January 2024 to present, they have created many fake Facebook accounts and then run advertisements to sell counterfeit money with the following conversion method from real money to counterfeit money: 200,000 VND real money = 5 million VND counterfeit money; 250,000 VND real money = 10 million VND counterfeit money; 300,000 VND real money = 15 million VND counterfeit money; 400,000 VND real money = 16 million VND counterfeit money and 450,000 VND real money = 22 million VND counterfeit money.
When ordering counterfeit money, customers do not need to deposit money, but only need to provide a phone number and delivery address.
In fact, the subjects advertised counterfeit money for sale, but when packaged and delivered to customers, there was no counterfeit money inside, but only items such as deodorant powder, cement powder, etc., and then holes were drilled to paste samples of 200,000 VND hell money. These packages were then sent to express delivery offices for customers who bought counterfeit money without being allowed to check the goods before delivery.
The evidence is a large number of cardboard boxes prepared by the subjects for use in express delivery. Photo: Ministry of Public Security
In a period of about 6 months, this line successfully delivered more than 23,000 orders nationwide and appropriated more than 6 billion VND. The orders that the subjects successfully delivered accounted for about 30% of the delivered orders (about 6,000 orders).
Currently, Bao Loc City Police are coordinating with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention – Lam Dong Provincial Police to extract related data to continue serving the fight and handling according to the provisions of the Law.
Bao Loc City Police informs that anyone who is a victim should contact the City Police at 206A Huynh Thuc Khang Street (Ward 2, Bao Loc City, Lam Dong), phone number: 02633.865.466 to provide information to serve the investigation of the case.