They were accused of property appropriation by fraud; illegal collection, storage, exchanging, trading, and publishing of information about bank accounts; and money laundering.

Through investigations, the police found that in late 2022 two gang leaders -Pham Van Nghia, 45, and Nguyen Phu Yen, 40, from Tay Ninh province - colluded with Vietnamese expatriates and foreigners in Cambodia to purchase bank accounts from people in Vietnam and then sell them to Cambodians to perform online scams.

Yen and Nghia bought hundreds of bank accounts from local residents before handing them over to fraudsters and money launderers in Cambodia, earning billions of Vietnamese dong.

After appropriating money from the victims, fraud gangs in Cambodia then laundered money by hiring Vietnamese employees to directly make quick transfers through many bank accounts and then transfer the money to buy USDT, a form of cryptocurrency which helps to remove traces of crime.

The investigation showed that the total amount of USDT trading transactions conducted by the  group from November 2023 to May 2024 was estimated at over USDT1.1 billion, equivalent to over VND25 trillion.

The police also seized four cars, two motorbikes, two laptops, 14 desktops, 17 mobile phones, 23 bank cards, more than VND400 million, and thousands of pages of related documents.

The case is currently under further investigation.

VOV