QUẢNG NAM – Police in the central province of Quảng Nam have detained six Taiwanese citizens on suspicion of fraud and asset appropriation, online newspaper Vietnamplus.vn reported.

Chung Shao Teng, Chang Seng Ping, Chang Chia Pin, and Bian Zong Xun, as well as Chang Fu Lung and Lo Yu Hsuan, were detained by Quảng Nam Police in coordination with authorities from HCM City and Tây Ninh Province after an investigation was conducted in response to a complaint made by a resident of Ái Nghĩa Town in Quảng Nam’s Đại Lộc District to police on June 6 that he had lost VNĐ1.9 billion (US$83,000) as a result of swindling and appropriation committed through a phone call.

Along with the six Chinese-Taiwanese citizens, six Vietnamese suspected of being members of the fraud ring were also detained.

Huỳnh Hoàng Ân and Đinh Chí Quyền, residents of Châu Thành District in the southern province of Tây Ninh, Đoàn Văn Quân from Trảng Bàng District in Tây Ninh Province, and Nguyễn Minh Trương of the Gò Dầu District in Tây Ninh, were arrested in connection to the swindling scheme, along with Trần Huỳnh Phúc, a resident of Sơn Trà District of Đà Nẵng City, and Lê Văn Sửu from Hương Sơn District in Hà Tĩnh Province.

The police said the Taiwanese suspects contacted their Vietnamese accomplices over the internet to search for personal information of potential Vietnamese victims.

They then called the victims via VOIP service and tricked them by posing as law enforcement officials investigating criminal cases who called to warn them that their saving accounts had been hacked and used for money laundering. The victims were then told to transfer money to bank accounts of law enforcement agencies, which turned out to be owned by the suspects.

The victims were told to keep the phone calls secret.

Many people fell victim to the scheme, as the total amount of money appropriated by the gang was over VNĐ6.9 billion (US$300,000), the police reported. – VNS