Three people who cheated foreign tourists into donating money to charity by using fake Red Cross membership cards in Hanoi were arrested and fined VND10.5 million (US$497.5) by the Ba Dinh police on May 9, local newspapers reported.

On May 8, police caught Dang Van Dang, 34, his wife, Nguyen Thi Thuy, 28, and Nguyen Ngoc Tinh, 31, from northern Hai Duong province, red-handed while they were swindling foreigners of charity money.

The three admitted to frequenting tourist-packed areas throughout Hanoi over the past two years and  talking foreign tourists into donating money to charity after showing their ‘victims’ their fake Red Cross membership cards and ‘documents’ calling for their mercy, which were translated into six languages, the Ha Noi Moi Online reported.

They each pocketed over VND300,000 (US$14.2) a day through this trick.

However, the two books seized by the police recorded the tourists’ donations total at more than VND100 million (US$4,738). Many gave VND500,000 (US$25) or even US$100 each time.

The three admitted that they inflated the sums by several times to make it look more persuasive to the tourists so that they can easily talk them into giving generous donations.

They also noted down their generous ‘prey’’s names, addresses and telephone numbers and kept pestering them later for even more donations.

The local police have recently handled cases of taxi drivers, xich lo drivers and hotel staff ripping off tourists.