On 6/8, the Criminal Police Department of Da Nang City Police announced that they had initiated a criminal case and detained Nguyen Ngoc Anh (35 years old, residing in Trieu Phong commune, Quang Tri province) to investigate the act of fraud and appropriation of property.

Suspect Nguyen Ngoc Anh at the police station. Photo: Police.

According to the investigation, in mid-July, Mrs. Phuong (47 years old, residing in Da Nang City) received messages from a Facebook account named "Thao Linh" with a profile picture and information matching her daughter who lives in Dubai. The "daughter" asked her to transfer money to a client through an international money transfer service.

Believing it was her daughter, Mrs. Phuong transferred a total of 2,258,000,000 VND to two bank accounts provided by "Thao Linh". She later called her daughter directly to confirm and discovered she had been scammed.

The Criminal Police Department established special case 725H, recognizing that this was a sophisticated scam exploiting family affection to appropriate a large sum of money. A task force was dispatched to Quang Tri province to coordinate with the Trieu Phong commune police, where the suspect was believed to be located, for verification.

After more than a week of investigation, the police identified Nguyen Ngoc Anh as the main suspect. He had created a fake Facebook account impersonating the victim's daughter, using information gathered from social media, devising a clever money transfer scenario, and using "junk" bank accounts purchased through Telegram to receive the money.

On 3/8, when Nguyen Ngoc Anh was spotted in Da Nang, the investigative forces immediately apprehended him. Two task forces simultaneously took action in Da Nang and Quang Tri to summon three related individuals.

Initially, Ngoc Anh admitted that the appropriated money was used for personal expenses and gambling. The case is currently under further investigation.

The police advised people not to conduct financial transactions solely through messages and to verify by phone call or video call. This is a sophisticated form of fraud that exploits the victim's affections and trust.

Ngoc Truong