Authorities seize 246kg of solid gold and 31 supercars in TikToker Mr. Pips' fraud case.

On the afternoon of December 10th, the Hanoi City Police officially announced the details of a large-scale online fraud case involving trillions of VND, linked to the suspect Pho Duc Nam (born in 1994, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau , known as TikToker Mr Pips).

According to the investigation, since 2021, Nam, along with Le Khac Ngo (born in 1990, residing in Bac Tu Liem district, Hanoi ), collaborated with a Turkish national with an operating office in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 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.

TikToker Mr. Pips (Phó Đức Nam) is famous for his videos showcasing his luxurious lifestyle and teaching how to make money, with hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and YouTube.

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enticed customers to make multiple transactions with small amounts of money, promising interest that could be withdrawn later.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.

On October 25th, Hanoi police, in coordination with various departments of the Ministry of Public Security, organized a force to arrest dozens of individuals involved in this transnational fraud ring.

To date, investigators have identified 2,661 victims nationwide. Simultaneously, the police have seized and frozen numerous assets belonging to the suspects, estimated to be worth over 5,200 billion VND.

Specifically: 316 billion VND in cash in accounts, bonds worth 9 billion VND, savings accounts worth over 200 billion VND; and 69 billion VND. In addition, there are 2.3 million USD, 890 SJC gold bars, 246 kg of solid gold, 31 supercars, 7 luxury motorcycles, 59 famous brand watches with a total value of approximately 300 billion VND, and 84 pieces of gold and diamond-encrusted jewelry. Furthermore, authorities have frozen transactions related to 125 real estate properties.

Currently, the Police Investigation Agency has issued decisions to initiate criminal proceedings for Fraudulent appropriation of property, Money laundering, Failure to report a crime, and Harboring and receiving property obtained through crimes committed by others.

Simultaneously, the investigating agency initiated criminal proceedings against 31 individuals, including: 26 defendants charged with fraud and appropriation of property, 3 defendants charged with money laundering, 1 defendant charged with failure to report a crime, and 1 defendant charged with harboring property obtained through criminal activity.

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