Society

188 defendants prosecuted in “Mr Pips” fraud case

The accusations include fraud, money laundering, dealing with criminally obtained assets, and tax evasion across multiple locations nationwide.

Pho Duc Nam (left), also known as Mr Pips, and Nguyen Hoa Binh, widely known as Shark Binh. (Photo: congan.com.vn)
Pho Duc Nam (left), also known as Mr Pips, and Nguyen Hoa Binh, widely known as Shark Binh. (Photo: congan.com.vn)

Hanoi (VNA) – The People’s Procuracy of Hanoi on August 3 filed charges against 188 defendants, including ringleader Pho Duc Nam, known as Mr Pips, in one of Vietnam’s biggest online investment fraud cases.

The accusations include fraud, money laundering, dealing with criminally obtained assets, and tax evasion across multiple locations nationwide.

Among them, Nam (born in 1994 and residing in Ho Chi Minh City) and Le Khac Ngo, also known as Mr Hunter (born in 1990 and residing in Hanoi), and Nguyen Thanh Phong (born 1990, residing in Tay Ninh province, a former police officer of the Ministry of Public Security's Bureau of Economic, Scientific, and Technical Intelligence, or B05) were charged with fraud and money laundering.

Another 177 defendants were indicted on fraud while Nguyen Thi Thuy was charged with money laundering and tax evasion.

Six others, including Nguyen Hoa Binh, widely known as Shark Binh (born 1981, residing in Hanoi, chairman of the board of payment intermediary company Ngan Luong JSC; and Pho Duc Thang (born 1968, Nam's father), were charged with money laundering. Meanwhile, Pho Duc Tuan was accused of concealing assets obtained through crime.

According to the indictment, in 2017, Nam became acquainted with Isik Uran, a Turkish national born in 1984. The pair allegedly agreed that Uran would create 36 websites integrated with MT4 and MT5 apps, which were used for forex and global equities trading. These sites used English names to imitate legitimate international trading venues. Uran passed the details to Nam, who then instructed operatives to lure clients into opening accounts and depositing funds for supposed stock investments.

The platforms were configured without any linkage to actual global markets, effectively enabling investors to wager against the platform administrators, meaning any losses were pocketed by the operators. Uran is accused of guiding Nam in how to run the scheme in Vietnam.

Nam instructed subordinates to set up shell companies for recruitment purposes, signing server leasing contracts, and placing sales and customer support staff for the illicit operation.

Through this scheme, Nam, Ngo, and their accomplices allegedly perpetrated 919 fraud cases, defrauding victims of nearly 1.56 trillion VND (over 59.3 million USD).

Nam, identified as the mastermind and ringleader, was held responsible for all the cases. He laundered more than 560 billion VND by spending 378 billion VND on 32 real estate properties, 141 billion VND on gold, 41 billion VND on purchasing 1,720,500 USD, and 1 billion VND on 67,744 SGD.

Meanwhile, Ngo is alleged to have been involved in 287 fraud cases, with victims defrauded of nearly 340 billion VND. He is also accused of laundering money by spending over 7 billion VND on four properties and 188 billion VND on 143 gold bars, according to the indictment./.

VNA
#online investment #Pho Duc Nam #Shark Binh #Mr Pips #fraud case #People’s Procuracy of Hanoi
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