Vietnamese, Nigerian criminals allegedly move $160M overseas through shell companies

Mai Vu Minh, 40, along with two Nigerians and four Vietnamese, are being accused of money laundering in an investigation report of Ho Chi Minh City Police submitted to prosecutors Friday.

14 people are also accused of illegal cross-border money transferring.

Five suspects seen at a HCMC police station when they are arrested in April 2024. Photo courtesy of HCMC Police

Investigators have found that Minh’s group and his overseas accomplices, primarily in Nigeria, hack into the email systems of businesses in the process of contract negotiations.

They created fake email accounts nearly identical to legitimate ones, differing by a single character, to deceive clients into changing transaction account details.

In Vietnam, Minh’s group established nearly 300 shell companies with foreign-sounding names, closely resembling those of their victims’ partners.

These entities opened dual accounts – one in foreign currency and one in Vietnamese dong – to receive contract payments.

The similarity in company names and email addresses led numerous foreign partners to mistakenly transfer funds to the accounts provided by the criminals, resulting in misappropriation.

One victim, December One Rnd Ltd in Ukraine, had conducted transactions with Sungsan Electronics & Communications, a South Korean company with a bank account in South Korea, via the email sungsan@rfzone.com.

On Dec. 6, 2023, the Ukrainian company received emails from sungsan@rfzOne.com ("O" capitalized" and sungsan@rfzones.com (with an extra "s"), instructing them to change the receiving bank account, accompanied by altered contracts, invoices, and a scanned confirmation from Vietnam's state-owned lender Vietinbank.

On March 8, 2024, December One Rnd Ltd transferred US$314,850 to the provided account and informed their partner of the payment.

The partner never received the funds, as the account and email addresses were fraudulent.

On March 21, 2024, the Ukrainian Embassy contacted Vietinbank to freeze the fraudulent account, but the bank reported that the account holder had already withdrawn all funds.

Minh's group, upon receiving funds into their foreign currency accounts, had accomplices in Vietnam, registered as company representatives, convert the funds to Vietnamese dong, transfer them to other individuals' accounts, and withdraw cash to deliver to the criminal network.

Currencies and other assets confiscated by the police. Photo courtesy of HCMC Police

Authorities confirmed that over VND1.1 trillion was transferred to Minh's group from foreign companies, primarily through scams involving email hacking.

The investigation further revealed that Minh and his accomplices, after withdrawing cash, delivered it to the Yen Sao Kingfood facility in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 11 and two branches of Duc Long Gold Shop to legitimize the funds for transfer abroad.

Leading the transportation operation were Phan Van Nhan and Duong Dai Nghia, who operated a bird’s nest trading business between Vietnam and Cambodia.

In 2016, Nhan recognized the difficulty of cross-border money transfers between Vietnam and Cambodia.

He collaborated with Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy to establish Yen Sao Kingfood as a hub for illegal currency transfers.

In addition to the Vietnam location, they operated a facility in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Clients in HCMC seeking to transfer money to Cambodia would deposit funds at Yen Sao Kingfood.

Nhan would notify staff at the Cambodian branch to deliver the equivalent amount to the recipient, charging a fee of 0.5%.

Documents show that from 2016 to April 2024, they transferred over $4.8 million to Cambodia and received $4.9 million and VND303 billion back.

After expenses, Nhan and Thuy profited nearly VND25 billion.

Another illegal network discovered by the police is led by a Cambodian known as Duyen, who is still at large.

She operated a foreign currency business in Cambodia and frequently conducted transactions with Vietnamese national Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.

Ngan rents a storefront in HCMC as a hub for collecting and transferring money domestically and internationally.

Disguised as a private residence without signage, it served as a key point for laundering money from gold shops before being handed to transporters.

Investigations showed Ngan facilitated transfers and receipts totaling tens of millions of dollars and thousands of billions of Vietnamese dong, coordinating cash flows from Vietnam to Duyen in Cambodia.

From Dec. 1, 2023, to April 5, 2024, Ngan transferred $10.7 million and over VND2 trillion from Cambodia to Vietnam, while sending $8.1 million and over VND35 billion from Vietnam to Cambodia.

The Duc Long Gold Shop branches were critical intermediaries in the transnational money laundering operation.

Most of the foreign currency at the shops were defrauded from foreign companies and brought to these shops by the Vietnamese criminal group for exchange.

Authorities determined that Duc Long Gold Shop conducted exchanges with the suspects, totaling over VND1.54 trillion and $7 million.

These transactions lacked invoices or documentation and were not reported for tax purposes, indicating violations of foreign exchange regulations.

The operation to dismantle the money laundering and transportation network, involving over VND4.15 trillion moved abroad, was executed by the HCMC Police’s Investigation Agency in April 2024.

Dozens of task forces traced the money trail, arresting suspects and seizing over VND9 billion, $1.5 million, and other foreign currencies prepared for transfer abroad.

To date, over 20 suspects have been found with clear criminal actions. Authorities continue to gather evidence to address others involved.