HCMC banker hires Cambodian criminals to steal $316,000 from customer

Luong Hoang Gia, 33, and Cambodian accomplice Tan Cheng Khung, 37, were taken in by the Go Vap District police on Friday for “appropriation of property using a computer network, telecommunications network or electronic device.”

A woman named Tuyet reported to the police that VND8 billion in her account, recently lent by the bank, had been lost.

The police found that the money had been transferred to several personal accounts with fake addresses. Gia, an employee in the credit department at the bank’s Go Vap branch, had directly helped Tuyet with the loan and showed signs of suspicion.

As the police traced the money flow, they arrested Tan when he was riding a motorbike in Tan Binh District.

Gia confessed to the police that since Tuyet was not well-versed with technology, he helped her open a bank account to transfer the loan money and stole its login and password information.

To steal the money, Gia contacted Tan to get help from Cambodian criminal gangs, promising to pay them VND1.2 billion.

The criminals withdrew the money and transferred it back and forth between several banks. Tan said he also did that before trying to cover his tracks by throwing his phone into a canal after the transactions were completed.

Authorities have frozen several bank accounts and managed to recover over VND3 billion the criminals had stolen.

The investigation is continuing.