3 Nigerian men and eight locals
belonging to two different gangs have been arrested by Vietnamese police for allegedly conning people out of
more than US$1.3 million.
The gangs tricked the victims by informing them they had won grand prizes or gift packages from abroad but had to pay some money as fees for collecting the prize or bribing police and customs officers since the gifts were of big value. They used bank accounts created with stolen or fake ID cards to collect the money.
Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Michael IkeChukwu Leonard, 44,
on Tuesday with three Vietnamese accomplices for cheating more than 100
victims around the country out of more than VND20 billion ($900,000)
over more than a year.
Earlier this month they had arrested Ihugba Augustine Chinonso, 30,
Onu Chinonso Peter, 31, and five Vietnamese for tricking many victims
into paying VND10 billion since late last year.
One victim from the central city of Da Nang said she had lost more than VND2.1
billion. She had been promised a gift package that contained more than a million dollars from a family friend overseas.
A
man from Hanoi, who works for a domestic airline, borrowed
money to pay nearly VND3.5 billion to receive a prize worth $1 million
from a UK company. He said he got a lot of emails, all in English, and
he was trusting because it had all "seemed very professional."
The members of the latter gang said they had received instructions from two other Nigerian men, who are still at large.
Post a Comment