What can victims of the TikToker Mr. Pips scam do to get their money back?

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Ha, Chairman of SBLAW Law Firm, whether the victims of Mr. Pips' (Pho Duc Nam) fraud can recover their assets depends on the verification and investigation process by the authorities. However, the victims must cooperate fully with the investigating agency to provide information and documents proving they were defrauded, which will serve as the basis for the police to compile a case file.

“ After that, the investigating agency will transfer all the files and evidence to the court for a basis for trial. From there, the court will issue a ruling on compensation for the victims according to the law at a certain percentage. The ruling will be delivered to the enforcement agency, and then the enforcement agency will transfer it to the victims if there is still money to be paid, ” Mr. Ha said.

Phó Đức Nam - also known as TikToker Mr Pips - before his arrest.

Concurring with this view, lawyer Nguyen Doan Hong, Director of Da Nang International Law Firm, stated that the victim must identify themselves as the injured party. The victim's obligation is to cooperate with investigators to provide all evidence related to the buying and selling process and transactions.

"If there are no documents or the documents are incorrect, the victim will not be able to recover their property," lawyer Hong emphasized.

Analyzing this case, Mr. Truong Quoc Hoe, head of Interla law firm, said that the investigating agency has frozen assets worth over 5.2 trillion VND before the fraudsters could abscond with them, therefore the possibility of recovering money for the victims may be promising.

During the investigation, authorities will gather all relevant documents and identify the victims of this case. In order for the police to identify and reimburse the victims according to a certain percentage, the victims of the fraud will have to submit all evidence of money transfers to the investigating agency. Based on the documents and evidence, the court will then make a conclusion and issue a judgment to recover the money.

"In the absence of documentary evidence, the victim will lose everything, because the principle is that it must be established based on evidence," Mr. Hoè said.

Therefore, the evidence submitted by the victim to the police must be truthful, objective, consistent with the transaction, and prove the source of the money to confirm their status as the victim and match the transactions.

"It's possible that the transactions were lost or the TikTok account is located abroad, so the investigating agency couldn't collect all the evidence. Therefore, the victim has the responsibility to prove and clarify that the money came from their account. If the victim cannot prove that the money came from their account, then after the court trial and official verdict, the remaining funds belonging to the perpetrator will be confiscated and deposited into the state treasury," the lawyer advised.

Regarding the case where some victims received interest payments from the scammers, Mr. Hoè stated that the law will not apply retroactively or deduct it from the principal amount that was defrauded, because the agreement has already been fulfilled.

Hanoi City Police recently issued a decision to initiate criminal proceedings and indict Pho Duc Nam (also known as TikToker Mr Pips, born in 1990, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau ), Le Khac Ngo (born in 1990, residing in Hanoi), and 24 others on charges of "fraudulent appropriation of property," "failure to report a crime," and "money laundering."

To date, the city police have identified 2,661 victims nationwide; seized and frozen numerous assets belonging to the suspects, estimated at over 5,200 billion VND. In addition, transactions related to 125 properties have been frozen. The police are continuing to expand the investigation.

Hanoi City Police are urging citizens and investors who have invested in websites and foreign exchange and stock trading platforms involved in the network of Pho Duc Nam and his accomplices to contact the Criminal Police Department of their respective localities to report the incidents or to come directly to the Criminal Police Department of Hanoi City Police. "When our investigation proves that the assets were obtained through fraud and misappropriation, those assets will naturally be returned to the victims," said Lieutenant Colonel Cao Van Thai, Head of the Major Crimes Team of Hanoi City Police.

According to investigators, since around 2019, Pho Duc Nam, along with Le Khac Ngo (Mr. Hunter; 34 years old, residing in Phu Dien, Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi), colluded with a group of foreign individuals to organize fraud using websites and links to international stock exchanges provided by this group. This group directed seven individuals in Vietnam to establish numerous "shell" companies, headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and several other provinces and cities.

The suspects set up a company in Ho Chi Minh City as a front and approximately 44 offices in Vietnam (including 24 offices in Hanoi and 20 offices in other provinces and cities). This company was not registered to operate in securities or finance but still recruited employees to work in foreign exchange and derivatives trading.

Every day, approximately 1,000 employees worked from 8 am to 9 pm. The perpetrators created and managed five websites with English interfaces to mislead participants into believing they were trading on reputable international exchanges, thus building trust among investors.

These websites are essentially programmed and linked to the bank accounts of the individuals managing them. Each exchange connects to MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5, which are popular forex and stock trading platforms worldwide.

The perpetrators recruited and assigned employees within the company to various departments (including accounting, human resources, IT, sales, and customer service...). These departments worked together, interacting with customers via Zalo, Telegram, etc., to commit fraud and embezzle assets.

The modus operandi of this ring was to provide false information to gain the trust of customers, tricking them into transferring money to accounts designated by the perpetrators, and then misappropriating the funds. Initially, Nam and his accomplices enticed customers to make multiple transactions with small amounts of money, promising interest that could be withdrawn later.

They then use various tactics to guide and encourage clients to increase their trading capital. When investors lose money, even losing all the money in their accounts, the scammers provide false information to maintain their trust and encourage them to transfer more money to "recover" their losses. Once the clients are no longer financially able, the scam group cuts off all communication and seizes all the money.

PHAM DUY

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nguoi-bi-hai-trong-vu-tiktoker-mr-pips-lua-dao-phai-lam-gi-de-lay-lai-tien-ar912949.html