Police in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai have broken up a high-tech criminal gang that hacked businesses email accounts to steal money.

The ring had been operating in multiple provinces and cities across the country and successfully appropriated tens of billions of dong (VND10 billion = US$439,096), the Dong Nai Department of Police said on Tuesday evening.

According to the case file, officers received a report in early August from a company working under the Hyundai Corporation, based in Amata Industrial Park in Dong Nai, claiming that the financial information in its email system had been compromised.

An investigation later revealed that a group of hackers had breached the email accounts of the firm’s executives to make financial approvals and change the names of recipients.

After following the digital footprints left by the hackers, investigators were able to locate where the gang members would withdraw the money.

In coordination with their counterparts in Ho Chi Minh City, police from Dong Nai arrested B.V.K. as he was taking out VND960 million ($42,153) wired from the Hyundai Corporation.

They also nabbed N.H.O., an alleged accomplice to the ring, and confiscated evidential documents after carrying a search at K.’s house.

Initial statements reveal that the gang had been reading emails exchanged between the company and its partners after hacking their accounts.

“They waited until both parties reached the transaction phase, then put their own bank account numbers as the recipients,” an investigator elaborated.

Speaking with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Senior Lieutenant Colonel Phan Trong Loc, an official from the Dong Nai police department, said that the ring was very sophisticated in its operation.

The criminals took advantage of the fact that many businesses exchange information and carry out their transaction via emails and bank accounts.

“The gang had hacked some 30 companies and appropriated nearly VND30 billion [$1.31 million],” Senior Lt. Col. Loc added.

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