Vietnamese police, working with their Lao counterparts, have dismantled a cross-border cyber fraud ring operating in Bokeo Province, Laos, arresting 40 Vietnamese nationals accused of impersonating insurance staff to steal money from victims in Vietnam.
Police take initial statements from the suspects (Photo: Police).
Lai Chau Provincial Police announced preliminary details of the operation on July 23, saying the suspects are completing legal procedures before being transferred to Vietnam for prosecution.
Initial investigations found that the alleged ringleader recruited Vietnamese nationals and arranged for them to rent a house in Tonpheung Commune, Bokeo Province, where they set up computers and telecommunications equipment to conduct online fraud.
The group allegedly posed as insurance employees and used virtual call centre numbers to contact victims using personal information linked to primary school pupils and their parents.
According to investigators, the callers instructed victims to update the VNeID digital identity application and link their social security and health insurance accounts to their bank accounts.
The suspects then allegedly sent victims a fraudulent QR code, claiming it was required to complete administrative procedures. Scanning the code enabled the group to gain access to victims' bank accounts and steal their money.
Police said the network had defrauded more than 1,000 victims across Vietnam since the beginning of June, obtaining more than VND 5 billion (USD 191,000).
On July 19 and 20, Lai Chau Provincial Police carried out the operation in coordination with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security's representative office in Laos, the Lao Ministry of Public Security's Anti-Human Trafficking Department and Bokeo Provincial Police.
Authorities arrested all 40 suspects in Tonpheung Commune and seized 56 mobile phones, 49 computers and numerous other items believed to have been used in the alleged offences.
Among those arrested, investigators identified one suspect as the group's manager and another as its accountant responsible for financial administration.
