Brian Jeffrey
Recent statistics from the Criminal Police Department in Ho Chi Minh City reveal that nearly VND 1 trillion (approximately $40 million) was lost to online fraud within the first nine months of this year.
During a seminar on December 18 focused on “Enhancing capabilities to combat financial crimes in cyberspace,” Senior Lieutenant Colonel Doi Ngoc Thang, the Deputy Head of the Criminal Police Department (PC02), announced that there were 461 reported cases of online fraud in this timeframe.
While this figure marks a decrease of 282 cases compared to last year, the financial losses remain alarmingly high at VND 982 billion. The department has filed charges in 242 cases, though they have faced considerable challenges in their investigations, successfully resolving just two cases involving four suspects, according to Thang.
Thang reported that the bulk of these cases—267—were related to fraud schemes where victims were lured to collaborate with e-commerce platforms for commissions or to model for child photography. Another 102 cases involved fraudulent solicitations promising returns on investments in unlicensed stock trading platforms, cryptocurrencies, and foreign exchange.
Other common scams included impersonation of government officials, hacking social media accounts to pose as relatives in need of financial help, and unregistered cryptocurrency platforms employing aggressive marketing tactics to attract participants.
The average loss per victim reached about VND 5 billion, typically involving personal finances or money borrowed from others. Thang emphasized that these scams significantly affect victims’ emotional and financial well-being, leading to issues such as family disputes, relationship strains, and, in extreme situations, violence or suicide.
In some cases, victims who had borrowed money for investments but could not repay faced threats and conflicts. Tragically, there have been instances where victims took their own lives due to intense financial stress.
