Investigators determined that in 2017, Pham Duc Nam met Isik Uran. The two allegedly agreed that Uran would create, manage and operate websites linked to the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms, which are commonly used for foreign exchange and international securities trading. The websites were given English names resembling those of legitimate international trading platforms.

Uran then provided the necessary information for Nam to direct employees to persuade customers to open accounts and deposit money for investment.

According to investigators, the websites had been pre-programmed from the outset and were never connected to real international financial markets. Instead, customers traded only against the platform operator. Whenever investors lost money, the funds went directly to the operators.

Investigators said Isik Uran instructed Mr Pips on how to establish and organize the business model for the Vietnamese market. Nam and co-defendant Dang Hoang Lien Anh later traveled to Türkiye, where Uran introduced them to the operational model of his forex and international securities trading offices before they returned to Vietnam to replicate the system.

Back in Vietnam, Pham Duc Nam rented office space, recruited staff and expanded operations. He personally oversaw the business offices while assigning Lien Anh responsibility for marketing.

Around October 2019, Nam discussed plans with Le Khac Ngo and Bui Trung Duc to expand the network of sales and customer service offices across Vietnam on a nationwide scale.

A large-scale, highly organized operation

According to the supplementary investigation, Pham Duc Nam and Isik Uran directed the marketing division and other associates to establish 84 companies as part of the operation.

Of these, four companies were used to recruit employees, while two companies signed contracts to lease servers for storing calls made through the Zoiper internet calling application and to obtain telephone numbers for the service.

Investigators also allege that the defendants established 49 companies and, working with the accounting department, opened 66 bank accounts, which were transferred to a Telegram user identified as "Carlos", whose identity remains unknown. They also opened accounts with payment intermediaries to receive funds deposited by victims.

In addition, the group established 31 companies to lease 43 offices across Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Binh Duong Province, providing operational bases for sales and customer service teams involved in the alleged criminal activities.

Sophisticated tactics to lure victims

To gain victims' confidence, investigators said the group initially allowed customers to make small profits on a few trades and withdraw those earnings successfully.

Once trust had been established, sales staff and office managers referred victims to customer service personnel posing as company investment experts who claimed to provide one-on-one financial advice.

Victims were then persuaded to transfer increasingly larger sums of money while receiving continuous guidance to place more trades. Investigators allege this strategy either generated excessive transaction fees or deliberately caused trading accounts to lose money, allowing the operators to appropriate the invested funds.

Authorities allege that through this scheme, Pham Duc Nam and his associates carried out 920 fraud cases, illegally obtaining more than VND1.568 trillion (US$60 million) from victims.

While Mr Pips and many of his alleged accomplices have been arrested and recommended for prosecution, investigators say his suspected foreign mentor, Isik Uran, remains at large.

T. Nhung