Two on trial for assisting in $94,700 defrauding of US firm

Nguyen Thi Lan Anh, 50, and Nguyen Khac Chuong, 45, will be tried on March 16 at the HCMC People’s Court for illegally obtaining the assets of others using electronic devices.

Investigators say that a group of foreigners, whose backgrounds are still being investigated by the police, contacted Anh in early 2021 from a social media account named "My Friend."

They asked Anh to set up a company and promised to give her 10% of the money they would gain from defrauding a victim.

She agreed and hired Chuong to establish Woojin High Tec and paid him VND10 million ($421.54) per month.

In August, the group of foreigners was aware that a company, VHG Styles Vietnam, was in a business deal with U.S.-based Modern Fittings. They hacked into VHG’s email account to steal vital information.

They then made a fake email address similar to that of VHG and made a request to Modern Fittings for a $94,700-payment. They asked that the money be transferred to the bank account of Woojin High Tec under Chuong’s name.

VHG later reported the incident to the police.

On Sept. 20, 2021, when Anh and Chuong went to a bank to withdraw the money and exchange it for over VND2.1 billion, they were arrested at the scene by the police.