The Cybersecurity and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention Department (PA05) of Da Nang City in central Vietnam cracked down on a ring that illegally collected, bought, and sold bank account information, with the help of bank employees, for up to VND1.9 million (US$81) per account.

Police summoned dozens of employees of 13 joint stock commercial banks in different localities across the country in connection with the collection and sale of bank account information to H.D.N., a 30-year-old man hailing from northern Lao Cai Province, who has been detained recently.

Among these staffers, N.M.D., an employee of M. Bank, provided N. with the information of 23 accounts, including three at his bank and the remainder at V. Bank, where he was a staff member. 

D. had used the access granted to him to log in M. Bank's internal system to obtain the information of three bank accounts and then sell it to N..

Regarding 20 accounts at V. Bank, D. had colluded with his former colleagues at this bank to steal the information related to these accounts.

D. sold the stolen information to N. for VND200,000-400,000 ($8.5-17) per account.

Similarly, P.T.H.T., a staff member of S. Bank in Da Nang, also used her access right to appropriate information related to 25 account numbers designated by N. and then sold all of the information to N.

T. got VND500,000 ($21.2) from N. for each account of which all information was provided to the man, according to PA05.

L.D.A., another employee of S. Bank, also supplied the information of 25 accounts to N. for VND200,000 apiece, which means A. pocketed a total of VND5 million ($213). 

N. confessed to investigators that he and the ring members bought account information for VND200,000 each at the minimum and VND1.9 million at the maximum, depending on each specific case.

The ring exchanged, bought, and sold information of more than 200 bank accounts to earn over VND400 million ($17,050).

Previously, PA05 scouts discovered a group that advertised on social media their services for searching for and providing information of accounts at 22 banks across Vietnam.

PA05 then launched an investigation into the group’s illegal activities and determined N. as the kingpin.

N. confessed from October 2022, he joined a Facebook group named ‘A.T.M Bank Account’ and used his Facebook, Zalo, and Telegram accounts and those of his lover to post articles advertising their illegal service of account information search and provision. 

PA05 is expanding its investigation into the case.

Last Saturday, the agency issued a decision to prosecute the criminal case of ‘illegal collection, storage, exchange, trade, and disclosure of information on bank accounts,’ pursuant to Article 291 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, according to national radio Voice of Vietnam. 

Last month, a similar case was discovered in northern Cao Bang province, leading to the arrest of Hoang Van Nghia, 34, who earned illegitimate profits of up to VND70 million ($2,980) every month from May 2022.

In October last year, police in Thua Thien-Hue Province, central Vietnam prosecuted a four member ring that committed the same crime, gaining billions of dong (VND1 billion = $42,570) from buying and selling the information of 255 bank accounts.

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