Chinese held in City crime bust
HCM CITY — Forty-three foreigners were arrested in HCM City last Friday after police launched simultaneous raids on four residences in different parts of the city, busting what they said was a hi-tech crime ring.
Lieutenant-colonel Nguyen Sy Quang, deputy head of HCM City Police's Administration Division, told reporters the same day that the 43 people from mainland China and Taiwan were arrested in raids on houses in Road D1 in District 12; 297A-299 Trinh Dinh Trong Street in Tan Phu District; 91 Ba Diem Apartment in Hoc Mon District; and 41 Road 28 in Binh Tan District.
The raids were carried out at 2.00pm after activities of the gang were tracked over several weeks, he said.The raids netted 17 laptops, 20 computers, 24 modem routers, 109 telephones, 35 handphones and 19 voice IPs as well as unspecified amounts of Vietnamese dong, US dollar, Chinese Yuan and Taiwanese currency.
The Chinese and Taiwanese nationals had entered Viet Nam as tourists, rented houses and registered for hi-speed internet services to perpetrate their hi-tech fraud, Quang said.
The gang members posed as Chinese authorities (such as police, procuracy and courts) to contact Chinese nationals from mainland China and cheat them into disclosing personal information including bank account details, and having the victims transfer their money to the swindlers' accounts.
Quang said most victims of the gang were Chinese from Guangdong Province.
According to an Interpol source, in recent months, Chinese and Taiwanese authorities have also busted swindling rings that used the similar schemes in their territories. — VNS