On 12/6, the Da Nang City Police Investigation Agency Office announced the temporary criminal detention of Tran Ba Truong (residing in Dien Ban ward) for investigation into fraud and appropriation of property.

Four days prior, Truong had surrendered to the police.

According to initial investigations, on 5/5 and 6/5, Truong exploited his position as an employee at the Mobile World system. He secretly took 28 new iPhones from inventory and sold them outside the store.

Tran Ba Truong at the police station. *Photo: Thanh Huynh*

Truong contacted several colleagues within the system, falsely claiming that he had customers who wanted to purchase products. After these employees successfully created sales orders, Truong requested the QR codes on the invoices, stating that customers needed them to scan for payment.

With the QR codes, Truong used his company-issued sales account to self-scan and confirm, thereby legitimizing the transactions as if customers had paid and taken the devices. When his personal account reached its limit, Truong continued to use OTP codes from other employees to log in and approve payments.

Using this method, Truong appropriated an additional 56 mobile phones from various stores within the system across the city.

Investigators determined that Truong squandered all proceeds from the sale of 84 mobile phones on Bitcoin crypto investment and online gambling.

Authorities tracked and recovered three related mobile phones, and they are expanding the investigation to locate the remaining assets.

Ngoc Truong