Mai Van Toi, 23, of Thanh Hoa Province in central Vietnam rented a building in Bavet City, Cambodia, and recruited 70 Vietnamese workers to operate a large cross-border scam network.
Toi and 28 other suspects have been detained and prosecuted by the Thanh Hoa police for fraud. According to the indictment, in early 2023 Toi moved to Bavet and established his operations.
He partnered with several foreigners to operate a cryptocurrency trading platform called JPX, and coordinated with accomplices in Vietnam to recruit 70 employees with promises of “easy work and high pay” and buy equipment.
Their main job was to create social media accounts, run online ads, and message potential victims to convince them to invest through their jpx-exchange.com scamming website.
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Mai Van Toi, 23, the mastermind behind the cross-border cryptocurrency scam network in Cambodia. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Son |
The gang followed a sophisticated four-step fraud process. The first, “baiting,” involved using fake accounts to approach victims and introduce investment opportunities.
Next came “grooming,” in which victims were allowed small wins and smooth money withdrawals to build trust. Once the victims were hooked, they were asked to join private Telegram groups, where they were encouraged to invest larger sums.
When the investment reached a substantial level, Toi instructed his staff to “kill” the victims by manipulating the system so that they suffered repeated losses or by citing fabricated reasons such as transfer errors before cutting off all contact and pocketing the money.
The Thanh Hoa police caught up with the gang and arrested Toi and 28 others last month.
Authorities said the network had defrauded thousands of victims to the tune of several trillion dong (VND1 trillion = US$38 million). The police are looking for more suspects abroad and have issued notices.
Authorities urged the public to avoid unlicensed financial or cryptocurrency platforms and remain cautious of investment schemes promising unusually high returns. Anyone discovering potential scams should immediately report them to the police, they said.