Fraud group sells fake phones to 7,000 people

Bui Thi Huong, 43, from Hanoi, and 21 others were detained by police in the central province of Ha Tinh Province to be investigated for obtaining property by fraud.

In 2019, Huong recruited several people to create accounts on e-commerce platforms that advertised the sale of phones. Every day, Huong instructed her employees to post pictures of phones, offering them at prices around VND3 million cheaper than their normally-listed prices.

When someone wanted to buy one of their listings, Huong’s group would sell them a fake phone before cutting off all contact.

From January to March, police in Ha Tinh and Hanoi cooperated to search 10 locations where Huong and her accomplices resided, arresting 22 people and seizing 3,000 fake phones labeled under brands like iPhone and Samsung, as well as other pieces of evidence.

Huong said she had suffered losses from her online businesses on e-commerce platforms, so she ordered several fake phones from abroad, purchased packages from official brands, and used them to trick customers into buying the phones.