Five individuals in southern Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam, were arrested by local authorities on Wednesday for their involvement in a large-scale money laundering operation. The suspects—Pham Van Nghia (45), Ngoc Tuan Anh (27), Vuong Thi Hoa (35), and two others—are accused of helping foreign criminals launder money by selling bank accounts.
According to authorities, Nghia and his associates identified a growing demand among criminals in Cambodia for Vietnamese bank accounts to facilitate online scams. They bought bank accounts from individuals in Vietnam and sold them for up to VND 3 million ($118) each. In total, they had purchased and sold 64 accounts.
The bank accounts were then used to swindle hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong. Anh and Hoa transferred the proceeds to Ngo Xuan Phuong (28), who received over VND 350 billion (approximately $13.77 million) between September 2022 and May 2023. The funds were subsequently converted into 15 million USDT (cryptocurrency) and transferred to the e-wallets of criminals abroad.
The investigation into this elaborate money laundering scheme is ongoing, with authorities working to uncover further details.