Hanoi City Police recently uncovered three cases involving 58 foreign individuals suspected of fraudulent appropriation of assets, organizing online gambling for foreigners, or illegal entry. These incidents occurred from 15/12/2025 to 14/3. This trend indicates a shift in operations by high-tech criminal groups, often targeting victims outside Vietnam while using the country as a base.

According to the police, ringleaders abroad, facing severe crackdowns in other countries, instructed their subordinates to collude with Vietnamese individuals. They sought to rent high-end apartments in areas often inhabited and worked in by foreigners. Once a location was secured, the ringleaders arranged for a foreign national to manage operations in Vietnam. They then processed entry for other foreign nationals under the guise of tourist visas.

Once operational, these groups committed fraud or organized gambling, specifically targeting victims outside Vietnamese territory. This strategy allows them to avoid criminal liability in Vietnam by not defrauding Vietnamese citizens. During their operations, the criminal group also established international securities companies as fronts. They operated in small, dispersed groups, not gathering in a fixed location but changing sites periodically to evade detection.

Searching the suspects' workplace in a high-tech fraud case. Photo: Provided by police.

Most recently, on the night of 15/1, in a high-end urban area in Son Dong commune, Hanoi, police discovered seven Korean nationals and one Chinese national residing without valid passports or visas. Inside the villa where they lived, police found dozens of computers and phones being used for impersonation schemes to defraud people of money. The suspects stated they chose closed, high-security urban areas in Vietnam to establish their 'headquarters' to evade detection by authorities from both countries. A Korean suspect admitted entering Vietnam not for tourism but to participate in an online fraud ring. "The targeted victims are people living in Korea", he stated.

Also in Hanoi, from 8/2025 to 2026, a group of Chinese and Japanese nationals gathered to devise a scheme impersonating police officers, prosecutors, and court officials to defraud people in Japan by phone. Authorities estimate this group appropriated approximately 11 billion VND.

Some exhibits seized in Hanoi. Photo: Provided by police.

Beyond Hanoi, Bac Ninh Provincial Police recently arrested two Chinese nationals, Bi Shuang and Cui Feiyang, both 28 years old, who used the WeChat social network to find victims interested in high-value asset transactions. On 8/1, the two suspects posed as individuals wanting to exchange USDT virtual currency for Vietnamese dong to meet Liu Wei. After receiving 120 million VND, Bi Shuang made an excuse to leave first, while Cui Feiyang took the victim to a restaurant on Han Thuyen Street, Kinh Bac ward. Taking advantage of a lapse during their meal, Cui Feiyang slipped out the back door and fled.

Using the same tactic, on 26/1, the two met Wang Chang Liang at a cafe to purchase three iPhones with a total value of approximately 93 million VND. After taking the phones under the pretext of inspection, they then lured the victim to the aforementioned restaurant to escape.