Colonel Vu Van Dau - Director of Dien Bien Provincial Police questioned the subjects.
Impersonating financial investors to approach victims
Previously, in February 2025, detectives of Dien Bien Provincial Police discovered unusual signs from an investment link spreading on social networks.
The verification process showed that this is a high-tech criminal organization led by Hoang Van Trung (31 years old, residing in Cao Bang ), operating in the Golden Triangle area, a security hotspot, where the borders of three countries: Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
Under the guise of a virtual gold exchange called “ATFX,” Trung and his Vietnamese and Chinese accomplices set up a sophisticated fraud scheme targeting hundreds of Vietnamese citizens.
They create social media accounts on Facebook, Zalo, TikTok with images of a luxurious life, impersonating financial investors to approach victims. After getting acquainted, flirting or building a trusting relationship, the subjects lure victims to invest in the "ATFX" floor, promising interest rates of up to 24% per day.
When victims transfer money, the group gives reasons such as system errors, need to verify accounts, and pay fees to withdraw money, thereby prolonging the time and continuing to appropriate assets. In many cases, the subjects also use sensitive images or personal information to threaten and force victims to continue transferring money or not report it.
One of the biggest projects to break the investment "trap"
Assessing that this is a particularly serious criminal organization, using high technology and operating internationally, Dien Bien Provincial Police reported to the Ministry of Public Security , and closely coordinated with Bo Keo Provincial Police (Laos) and professional units to organize many field reconnaissance missions in the Golden Triangle.
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Xuan Lam, Deputy Head of the Criminal Police Department of Dien Bien Provincial Police, said that tracking down criminal groups in rugged mountainous areas with complex populations, many open borders, and subjects constantly changing their residence and using encryption applications is a big challenge.
To solve the case, Vietnamese detectives had to stay in the area for a long time, closely coordinating with the police of the neighboring country to grasp the movement patterns, organizational chart and residence addresses of each small group.
In early July 2025, a source from the secret intelligence agency informed the Task Force that the ringleaders were planning to withdraw from the Golden Triangle and split their forces to escape to Cambodia in different directions. Immediately, two veteran intelligence agents were sent to Laos to coordinate with the Bo Keo Provincial Police to survey the field and plan a coordinated arrest.
From July 4 to 8, nearly 200 officers and soldiers of Dien Bien Provincial Police coordinated with professional units and Lao authorities to simultaneously deploy reconnaissance teams.
At 12:30 on July 5, the authorities raided two locations identified as the headquarters of the fraud ring in the center of the Golden Triangle special zone. There, 45 subjects were arrested on the spot, including 14 Chinese nationals and 31 Vietnamese. The ringleader, Hoang Van Trung, was subdued while hiding in a bar.
Searching the scene, the authorities seized a huge amount of evidence including 233 mobile phones, 292 All-in-One computers, 36 desktop computers, thousands of Lao mobile SIM cards, electronic devices, projectors and especially two large cardboard boxes containing hundreds of notebooks recording scam scenarios. Each scenario was prepared according to specific situations: from approach, building trust, manipulating emotions to appropriating the victim's property.
At the same time, at the airport in the capital Vientiane (Laos), another task force arrested 14 subjects (including 13 Vietnamese and 1 Chinese) while they were checking in for a flight to Phnom Penh (Cambodia). The seized evidence included 41 mobile phones, 13 passports, 3,500 USD, 1,532 yuan and a large amount of Lao cash.
In addition, at Tay Trang International Border Gate (Dien Bien), another reconnaissance team discovered and arrested 15 subjects traveling by car from Laos to Vietnam, with the intention of crossing the border into Cambodia by road.
As of July 8, the total number of people arrested in the case reached 74, including many masterminds and operators of the transnational fraud network.
The Investigation Police Agency of Dien Bien Province Police has issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecuting 38 defendants for the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". The remaining subjects are continuing to be investigated, clarifying their specific roles in the criminal organization.
This is one of the largest cases ever led by Dien Bien Provincial Police, demonstrating high determination in preventing and combating high-tech crimes, protecting network security and people's property.
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Source: https://baochinhphu.vn/hang-tram-kich-ban-lua-dao-trong-duong-day-bay-dau-tu-xuyen-quoc-gia-102250715154325871.htm
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