Vietnamese police have coordinated with their Laotian counterparts to crack down on a large-scale cyberfraud ring, arresting 155 Vietnamese suspects involved in transnational fraudulent activities targeting their compatriots.

Police in Ha Tinh Province, north-central Vietnam announced on Wednesday that they had collaborated with Laotian authorities to carry out a four-hour raid on a multistory building used by a cybercriminal organization in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, located in Bokeo Province, Laos, on August 2.

During the operation, officers apprehended 154 Vietnamese nationals and seized nearly 100 passports, 74 amphetamine pills, 18,900 Chinese yuan (US$2,640), dozens of computers, almost 500 cellphones, and thousands of unregistered SIM cards, along with other tools and documents used for fraud.

That same day, Ha Tinh police also arrested 30-year-old Hoang Bich Ngoc, reportedly one of the ring leaders, as she arrived at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi after fleeing the raided building.

According to Ha Tinh police officers, the crime ring was primarily orchestrated by foreign individuals.

Last year, fraud rings operating across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, and Vietnam, began shifting their operations to the Golden Triangle Economic Zone, provincial police explained.

To recruit members, the gang’s leaders lured Vietnamese individuals into illegally entering the Golden Triangle Economic Zone by promising legitimate jobs with salaries ranging from VND18 million (US$713) to VND30 million ($1,188) per month.

However, those who fell for the trap were instead forced to commit crimes for the organization.

Since early 2024, Ha Tinh police have been receiving petitions from families seeking help to bring home their children who had been deceived into working for these rackets.

Local police have also received reports from individuals who said they were victims of cyberfraud schemes conducted by crime rings in the region.

Through a series of investigations, provincial police identified the aforementioned gang – a transnational criminal organization involved in human trafficking, organizing illegal border crossings, and large-scale online fraud.

This swindling organization operated under the cover of several legally licensed businesses operating in the economic zone and targeting Vietnamese as potential prey for their scams.

Through apps, websites, and phones, they convinced Vietnamese individuals to invest money in trade and investment activities with promises of high profits or commissions, according to the Vietnam Government Portal.

The swindlers then offered initial lucrative payouts to their victims in order to convince them to make larger investments.

Then, once these larger investments were made, the gang cut contact with the victims. 

It is estimated that the gang has cheated tens of thousands of victims and appropriated hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong. [VND1 billion = $39,650]. 

One of the detained suspects, N.T.H. confessed that he had defrauded about 200 Vietnamese people, including one who was conned out of VND5 billion ($198,000). 

H. told investigators that those who worked for the ring were given commissions of seven-to-eleven percent for each 'investment' made by a victim.  

Accordingly, H. earned an average of 10,000 Chinese yuan (nearly $1,400) per month.

"This is a cross-border professional cyberfraud organization managed by foreigners that has stolen assets from thousands of Vietnamese victims," Colonel Pham Thanh Phuong, deputy director of the Ha Tinh police department, told the Vietnam Government Portal.

Phuong emphasized that the bust represents a significant achievement by both Vietnamese and Lao police in the fight against transnational cybercrime.

He also noted that local authorities are continuing to investigate the ring's activities and are urging victims to come forward and report their cases to provincial police for further investigation and resolution.

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