24 Vietnamese arrested for operating million-dollar scam call operation from Cambodia

VNExpress - Vietnamese police on Saturday arrested 24 suspects accused of operating a large-scale scam from Cambodia, in which victims were tricked into investing in fraudulent online casino platforms.

Authorities say the operation defrauded victims of trillions of Vietnamese dong (VND1 trillion equals US$39.5 million).

According to police in Tay Ninh Province, which borders Cambodia, the suspects are under investigation for using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to commit fraud. Their identities have not been released as the case is still under investigation.

The arrests followed a joint effort by Tay Ninh police, the Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, and the Border Guard, after 177 Vietnamese individuals were recently detained by Cambodian authorities in Bavet City, Svay Rieng Province for illegal labor and residency.

Investigators discovered that a Chinese national, identified as "HeYuki," rented two floors of a building in Bavet City to operate the scheme. Employees were organized into specialized groups with roles such as management, sales, and support staff. Their primary strategy involved sending a link, "https://web.sandsking.top/#/", to victims via an app, directing them to a fake website called "Casino Bay Sands."

Victims were lured by promises of exploiting alleged "system errors" in the online casino to guarantee big wins. Initially, small deposits would often yield winnings, encouraging victims to invest larger amounts. Once victims had deposited substantial sums, their odds of winning plummeted, and their accounts were eventually locked.

One of the arrested suspects, a 36-year-old woman from Soc Trang Province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, claimed she was also a victim of human trafficking. She said she was lured to Cambodia under the pretext of selling fruit and later coerced into working for two different scam companies. At her third posting under HeYuki, she complied to avoid further abuse.

As a "salesperson," she communicated with victims via calls and messages, posing as a representative of major corporations and businesses. She convinced victims that the casino app would "malfunction" three times a day, guaranteeing wins for bets placed during these intervals. However, the so-called errors were staged by the scam’s "backstage" team.

According to another arrested employee in the ring, there were so many players who deposit hundreds of dollars at a time that they could not even remember.

Authorities have worked with at least six individuals who were defrauded out of more than VND35 billion in total.

Tay Ninh’s Criminal Police Department is working with the Ministry of Public Security to clarify each suspect’s role and arrest additional parties linked to the operation.