Man lured by online acquaintance into motel, forced to transfer funds

A man was lured into a motel by Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao, an online acquaintance, where she and two accomplices allegedly threatened him and forced him to transfer all the money from his bank account.

On the morning of 16/9, An Giang Provincial Police criminally detained Thao, 27, along with Mai Hoang Trong and Nguyen Thanh Dung (22-38), for investigation into property robbery.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Thao at the investigative agency. Photo: Tien Tam

According to the investigation, Hung met Thao via social media. On 7/9, the woman invited him to a motel for a private meeting. On the way, Thao borrowed 165,000 VND from him to pay for sticky rice and cakes.

Upon arrival, Thao allowed Hung to go to the room first. A moment later, she and Trong entered the room, demanding he provide his account number to repay the borrowed money.

Instead of transferring 165,000 VND, Thao created a fake transfer order for 1,6 million VND and then demanded Hung return the supposed overpayment. He checked his account, saw no money had been deposited, and refused.

According to the police, Thao and Trong then threatened Hung but failed to achieve their goal, so they called Dung. The group allegedly beat and intimidated the victim.

Thao took Hung's phone, checked it, and seeing 800,000 VND remaining in the account, forced him to transfer the entire amount to her. Afterward, the group left the motel.

Hung reported the incident to the police. Following an investigation, Thao, Trong, and Dung were arrested.