Mr Pips' scam ring: Employees beaten if they don't meet 'chicken herding' targets

Mr. Pips headed the largest online financial fraud ring.

The Cau Giay District Police (Hanoi) are coordinating with other professional units to investigate a criminal gang led by Pho Duc Nam (Mr. Pips, 30 years old, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau ), which defrauded 2,661 victims and misappropriated approximately 50 million USD.

Lieutenant Tran Cong Hau, an officer of the Criminal Police Team of Cau Giay District Police, said that in order to organize and operate criminal activities, Pho Duc Nam colluded with and assigned Le Khac Ngo (Mr. Hunter, 34 years old, residing in Hanoi ) to establish 44 offices in Vietnam with 1,918 regional managers, office managers and sales staff.

Sales staff work in office buildings and high-end apartment complexes, areas with high security and privacy. In addition, the perpetrators use their own security team for surveillance and observation. When they detect anything unusual, they will have a way to respond.

In addition to the sales staff, this gang formed its own security team, whose job was to be vigilant and monitor the cameras, sitting at the doors of the offices to keep watch.

"When victims file complaints or authorities come to inspect the company's operations, these individuals will have representatives come out to meet with them and cover up their actions, refusing to cooperate and preventing authorities from carrying out their work," Lieutenant Tran Cong Hau said.

Senior Lieutenant Tran Cong Hau, officer of the Criminal Police Team of Cau Giay District Police.

Notably, sales staff were pressured to meet targets, and failure to do so resulted in harassment and dismissal. Upon dismissal, the gang's security personnel would threaten and intimidate them, even physically assaulting them if they leaked company information, making daily life difficult.

"The security personnel would take the sales staff into a private room and use force to beat them if they showed a negligent, unfocused, or ineffective attitude towards work," Lieutenant Tran Cong Hau shared.

Employees in Mr. Pips's fraud ring had to clock in using fingerprint and facial recognition, and their working hours were strictly controlled. When they went home, they were strictly forbidden from having any contact with work. All computers and phones were kept at the company to prevent the disclosure of operational information and company documents to outsiders.

In terms of operation, these entities recruit staff and divide them into departments such as: Marketing department, victim care department (technical department - ret), and victim support department for depositing and withdrawing money (support).

Sales staff in branch offices are divided into small groups of 5 to 10 people to work together, and a team leader is assigned to train and guide the sales staff in finding and persuading customers to transfer money.

Sales staff lack knowledge of foreign exchange or stock market investments but still use mobile phones to find customers through social media groups on Zalo and Facebook.

Mr. Pips's scam ring. (Photo: Hanoi City Police)

These employees also participate in events with many economically potential individuals to approach, befriend, and get acquainted with them, then introduce them to the macroeconomic financial market, foreign exchange investment opportunities, and stimulate their desire to invest, thereby guiding and inviting them to invest in foreign exchange platforms.

Once the client agrees to participate, the sales representative will assist them in creating an account, accessing the platform's website link, and using Gmail to create a trading account. Next, the client will be guided to download the MT4 or MT5 application to their phone, use the trading account code to "paste" into the MT5 application, and confirm the account via Gmail.

During the fraudulent operation, sales staff created multiple Zalo accounts to impersonate investors and consultants, posting numerous winning trades on the platform to Zalo groups to encourage others to invest.

After customers deposit funds, staff will provide information on market trends, encourage customers to execute trades with high leverage, and discourage them from taking profits or cutting losses before 3 minutes (after placing a Buy or Sell order).

These individuals, posing as financial experts or "predictors," talk to clients, encouraging them to deposit more money in the hope of recovering their losses, and finding ways to cause them to lose money and wipe out their accounts. The more money clients deposit, the more they lose, and the greater the profit for these individuals.

When customers lose all their money, the sales staff and leaders entice more people to deposit more to continue playing to recoup their losses or offer attractive promotions (bonuses) to encourage them to deposit again. When customers want to withdraw money, the perpetrators will execute withdrawal requests on the platform or chat with the victim's deposit/withdrawal support department on the platform to request withdrawals.

Upon seeing a customer requesting a withdrawal, the deposit and withdrawal support team will notify and seek approval from the ringleaders. If the customer requests a small withdrawal, they will allow it. If the customer requests a large withdrawal or intends to quit playing, the group leader will instruct sales staff to influence the customer to make additional transactions, delaying the withdrawal in order to "burn" the customer's account and prevent them from withdrawing money from the platform.

After receiving money from customers, the perpetrators used it for personal expenses, buying supercars, yachts, real estate, USD, and gold, showing them off on social media platforms to encourage other victims to continue participating in the organization's fraudulent activities.

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