Taiwanese and Vietnamese arrested in extortion con

Police in Hue City announced that they had detained a group of five Vietnamese and four Taiwanese for impersonating police officers and blackmailing members of the public.

Police in Hue City announced on January 3 that they had detained a group of five Vietnamese and four Taiwanese for impersonating police officers and blackmailing members of the public.

 

The men arrested while withdrawing VND355m (USD15,600) at BIDV in Hue

30-year-old Tran Van Thiet and 40-year-old Lin Hung Yu were arrested while withdrawing VND355m (USD15,600) at the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) in Hue. The police also arrested another group that was waiting outside, including four Vietnamese and three Taiwanese men on December 27.

The offenders told the police that a Taiwanese man hired them and ordered them to hire other Vietnamese people to open bank accounts in Vietnam. When money was deposited, they had to withdraw the money and redeposit it to another account in Taiwan.

They disguised themselves as police and tricked their victims into believing that they had been involved in a crime. Then they forced the victims to deposit money into Vietnamese accounts for investigation or else they would be detained.

They had already withdrawn cash eight times in Danang, including one withdrawal of as much as VND400m. This is the first time they had withdrawn money in Hue.

The police are expanding the investigation.