On 23/3, Thinh and Nguyen Phuoc Duc (24) were temporarily detained by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Criminal Investigation Department for investigation into fraud and appropriation of property.
Police have recovered all 7 stolen cars and returned them to the victims. The investigation is ongoing to expand the case and apprehend those involved in forging documents.
Police return cars to victims. Video: Ho Chi Minh City Police
According to the investigation, in late 2025, Thinh conceived a plan to appropriate property by exploiting the popular self-drive car rental services in TP HCM. To execute this scheme, he used Telegram to contact anonymous accounts and order a series of fake documents.
The forged documents were diverse, including citizen identity cards, driver's licenses, and vehicle registration certificates. Thinh provided personal information to his contacts, who designed the documents as electronic files, meticulously altering QR codes and images with high sophistication. With these fabricated "files", car rental providers and pawn shops found it difficult to detect the fakes with the naked eye.
Once he had the fake documents, Thinh approached car rental establishments in TP HCM to complete the procedures for short-term self-drive car rentals. Immediately after receiving a vehicle, he would take it to a pawn shop for money, then cut off all contact.
To carry out multiple such incidents, Thinh lured Duc, who is from Can Tho, to join him. Thinh acted as the mastermind, providing the fake documents and directing the operations. Duc directly used the fake documents to meet car owners, sign rental contracts, and subsequently pawn the cars as arranged.
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Ly Gia Thinh (in black shirt) and Nguyen Phuoc Duc at the investigative agency. Photo: Police provided
The investigative agency determined that over ba months, from 11/2025 to 1/2026, the group carried out 7 fraud cases. The targeted vehicles were all new, high-value cars.
Each car, when pawned, yielded the group between 160 million and over 350 million VND. The total amount appropriated reached billions of VND.
Following a tip-off from a car owner in the Nguyen Duy Trinh street area, Binh Trung ward, regarding a rented car being appropriated, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Criminal Investigation Department identified this as a professional criminal group. They then coordinated with relevant units to review pawn shops and track location data.
After a short period of investigation, police recovered all 7 stolen cars and identified all victims. Ho Chi Minh City police are continuing to expand the investigation and pursue those involved in forging documents.
Police advised car rental establishments to be vigilant and not rely solely on electronic document images or scans. Car owners should carefully check original documents, cross-reference information from multiple sources, and be especially cautious with quick transactions or those showing unusual signs.
Quoc Thang
