Nguyễn Hòa Bình, widely known as Shark Bình, at police station.  — Photo courtesy of Hà Nội Police

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội police have completed a supplementary investigation and recommended prosecuting 188 suspects, including alleged ringleader Phó Đức Nam, also known as Mr Pips, in one of Việt Nam's largest online investment fraud cases involving charges of fraud, money laundering and handling criminally obtained assets.

On February 12, 2026, the investigation police agency under the Hà Nội Department of Public Security issued Investigation Conclusion No. 134 and transferred the case file to the Hà Nội People's Procuracy, proposing the prosecution of 75 suspects on the charges of swindling to appropriate property, money laundering, harbouring assets obtained through crime, and tax evasion. At the same time, the agency decided to separate the case and temporarily suspend the investigation into eight wanted suspects, pending further evidence collection.

The case was later reopened after two wanted suspects surrendered, prompting additional investigation.

Nam (born in 1994 and residing in HCM City) and Lê Khắc Ngọ, also known as Mr Hunter (born in 1990 and residing in Hưng Yên province), are proposed to be prosecuted for swindling to appropriate property and money laundering. Ngọ's wife, Ngô Thị Thêu (born in 1995 and residing in Hải Phòng city), faces the charge of swindling to appropriate property. The remaining 185 are accused of swindling to appropriate property, money laundering, and harbouring or consuming assets obtained through crime.

According to investigators, Nam became acquainted with Isik Uran, a Turkish national born in 1984, in 2018. The pair allegedly agreed that Uran would create, manage and operate websites integrated with MT4 and MT5 apps, which were used for forex and global equities trading. These sites used English names to imitate legitimate international brokers. Uran passed the details to Nam, who then instructed operatives to lure clients into opening accounts and depositing funds for supposed stock investments.

The platforms were pre-configured without any linkage to actual global markets, effectively enabling investors to wager against the platform administrators, meaning any losses were pocketed by the operators. Uran is accused of guiding Nam in how to run the scheme in Việt Nam.

The duo reportedly established 36 fraudulent websites posing as international trading venues. Nam instructed subordinates to set up 85 shell companies: four for recruitment purposes, two for signing server leasing contracts, and 57 for placing sales and customer support staff for the illicit operation.

Nam is said to have recruited staff across major localities to run the scheme. Recruits required no formal qualifications or expertise in securities or trading. Upon hiring, they received rudimentary briefings and scripted dialogues designed to convince victims to wire funds into accounts controlled by the fake platforms.

Victims who installed MT4 or MT5 apps, registered on the sites, and transferred money for international stock or forex trading were initially permitted modest wins and limited withdrawals. Operators then encouraged additional deposits and repeated trades, either to extract hefty fees or to engineer deliberate losses and misappropriate the capital, according to police.

Through this scheme, Nam, Ngọ, and their accomplices allegedly perpetrated 920 fraud cases, defrauding victims of more than VNĐ1.568 trillion (over US$59.6 million).

According to the supplementary investigation conclusion, Nam, identified as the mastermind and ringleader, is held responsible for all the cases. He laundered the illicit proceeds by purchasing 32 real estate properties, and spending VNĐ141 billion on gold, more than $1.7 million, and other valuable assets.

Meanwhile, Ngọ is alleged to have been involved in 287 fraud cases, with victims defrauded of more than VNĐ344 billion. He is also accused of laundering money through the purchase of four properties and 143 gold bars.

The supplementary investigation also recommends prosecuting Nguyễn Hòa Bình, widely known as Shark Bình, chairman of the board of payment intermediary company Ngân Lượng JSC, on charges of money laundering.

According to investigators, the Ngân Lượng JSC received formal police inquiries in June 2020 to verify e-wallet transactions linked to clients investing via Nam’s forex platforms.

Even though he knew Nam’s operations were illegal, Bình allegedly kept offering e-wallet services to the platforms to earn transaction fees. He reportedly told his subordinates to hide the real wallet details and create fake deposit and withdrawal records from another Ngân Lượng wallet, said to be fictitious, to hand over to investigators.

Police said victims transferred hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong through Ngân Lượng payment wallets between June 2020 and September 2022. The funds were then routed through various bank accounts in the name of Ngân Lượng JSC at major banks before being funnelled into the forex platforms. — VNA/VNS