Hanoi (VNA) - Hanoi police on March 18 initiated criminal proceedings against 83 defendants linked to a major asset fraud ring led by Pho Duc Nam, widely known as “Mr Pips”.
Investigators charged 74 individuals with “fraudulent appropriation of property” under Clause 4, Article 174 of the Penal Code; six with “money laundering” under Clause 3, Article 324; one with “harbouring assets obtained through crime” under Clause 4, Article 323; one with both “money laundering” and “fraudulent appropriation of property”; and one with “money laundering” and “tax evasion” under Clause 1, Article 200.
Police temporarily seized 2.3 million USD in cash, 41 cars, seven motorbikes, and large quantities of precious metals, including 246 kg of gold bullion and 890 SJC gold taels, along with numerous luxury watches and jewellery items. Transactions involving 130 relevant real estates have been frozen.
According to investigators, Nam became acquainted with Isik Uran, a 42-year-old Turkish national, in 2018. The pair allegedly agreed that Uran would create, manage and operate websites integrated with MT4 and MT5 apps, which are commonly used for forex and global equities trading. These sites used English names to imitate legitimate international brokers. 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 pre-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 how to run the scheme within Vietnam.
The duo reportedly established 36 fraudulent websites posing as international trading venues. Nam instructed subordinates to set up 85 shell companies: four for recruitment purposes, two for signing server leasing contracts, and 57 for placing sales and customer support staff for the illicit operation.
Nam is said to have recruited staff across key localities to run the scheme. Recruits required no formal qualifications or expertise in securities or trading. Upon hiring, they received rudimentary briefings and scripted dialogues designed to convince victims to wire funds into accounts controlled by the fake platforms.
Victims who installed MT4 or MT5 apps, registered on the sites, and transferred capital for international stock or forex trading were initially permitted modest wins and limited withdrawals. Operators then encouraged additional deposits and repeated trades, either to extract hefty fees or to engineer deliberate losses and misappropriate the capital, according to police.
Through this approach, Nam, Le Khac Ngo, and their accomplices allegedly perpetrated 41 documented fraud cases. In these cases, victims deposited a combined 59 billion VND (2.18 million USD), withdrew 3.2 billion VND, and sustained losses of 55.8 billion VND.
Investigators also uncovered 697 more fraud cases involving Nam and his team using the same methods. In these cases, victims deposited over 1.362 trillion VND, withdrew 117 billion VND, and ended up losing 1.245 trillion VND.
Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) charged with money laundering
According to Hanoi police investigators, Ngan Luong JSC, chaired by Nguyen Hoa Binh, also known as “Shark Binh”, received formal police inquiries in June 2020 to verify e-wallet transactions linked to clients investing via Nam’s forex platforms.
Even though he knew Nam’s operations were illegal, Binh allegedly kept offering e-wallet services to the platforms to earn transaction fees. He reportedly told Nguyen Thi Nam and Tran Thi Thanh Tam to hide the real wallet details and create fake deposit and withdrawal records from another Ngan Luong wallet, said to be fictitious, to hand over to investigators.
Between June 15, 2020 and September 23, 2022, 150 victims transferred more than 213.4 billion VND into Ngan Luong-linked accounts. The funds were then routed through various bank accounts in the name of Ngan Luong JSC at major banks before being funnelled into the forex platforms.
Police stressed that only the Vietnam Stock Exchange (VNX) and its affiliates, including the Hanoi Stock Exchange and Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, are authorised to run securities trading markets in Vietnam. No other entities or individuals may establish or manage stock markets. Online investment in international equities and forex via MT4 and MT5 apps remains unlicensed and unrecognised under current Vietnamese law./.
Police recover 5.31 trillion VND in “Mr Pips” fraud case
The total value of recovered assets in the large-scale fraud case involving Pho Duc Nam, known publicly as “Mr Pips”, has reached 5.31 trillion VND (203.24 million USD).
