Bac Ninh police bust foreign fraud ring targeting Vietnamese investors
Police in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam, arrested 23 foreign nationals—citizens of China and Malaysia—who were staying illegally in the province. The operation followed coordinated inspections of five accommodation sites on May 12, uncovering 31 laptops, one desktop computer and 48 mobile phones suspected of supporting illicit online activities.
Investigators found the suspects used the HelloGPT application to log into multiple Telegram, Zalo and WhatsApp accounts simultaneously, creating groups that urged participants to invest in stocks, trade USDT and other cryptocurrencies on unofficial platforms. After victims invested, a separate group allegedly manipulated the platforms to divert funds. Additional schemes involved online shopping tasks that escalated in monetary value before the victims’ money was seized, and one suspect admitted being sent to Vietnam to prepare online football‑betting operations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The case is under further investigation, and authorities have urged local lodging facilities to enforce visa reporting requirements and promptly alert police to any suspicious activity.