Vietnam investigates $8.8 million holiday‑ownership fraud across 23 firms

Police in Hanoi say a fraud scheme selling “holiday ownership” contracts swindled 493 victims of more than 181.4 billion Vietnamese dong (about $8.8 million). Twenty‑one criminal cases have been opened and 187 suspects charged.

The scheme involved 23 companies – including Green Travel Vietnam, Zo Group, Happy Holidays, Sunland Travel and others – that invited consumers to seminars promising free travel vouchers and high resale profits for contracts priced 200‑900 million dong and lasting 5‑40 years. Promises of easy resale were oral, not reflected in the contracts, and no actual holiday property was transferred.

Police raids seized over 16.6 billion dong in cash, froze about 59.8 billion dong in accounts, and confiscated seven cars, ten land‑title certificates and savings accounts worth 12 billion dong. Similar operations in Ho Chi Minh City and Khanh Hoa province led to the arrest of six additional suspects linked to a related fraud totalling about 29.8 billion dong.

Investigators say the conspirators also ran a brokerage network that bought customer data, used disposable phone numbers and offered inflated resale values – up to ten times the contract price – to pressure victims into additional deposits.