(Photo illustration)
Bank Account Trading for “Money Laundering”
According to the Hanoi People’s Court, the agency will soon prosecute 21 defendants in the case of Ms. Nguyen Thi L (born in 1985, living in Hanoi) who was defrauded and had nearly 20 billion VND illegally appropriated through her work as an online collaborator.
Through the case files, following Ms. L’s money trail, the police have uncovered the 777pay criminal group belonging to Jinbian Company (headquartered in Cambodia) – specializing in “money laundering” in the Vietnamese market. The 777pay unit provided bank accounts for the scammers to instruct Ms. L to transfer money to take possession of.
In this case, the investigating agency also determined that 119 bank accounts were involved. Verifying 34 accounts managed and used by the 777pay Unit, there were 10 bank accounts that did not have the account holder’s information registered as in the file.
Continuing to verify other accounts, the investigating agency clarified that there were cases of public trading of bank accounts on the social network Facebook.
Specifically, in early July 2022, a subject using the Facebook account “Vanh Nguyen” posted on the “Hanoi Job Search” group with the content “Recruiting 10 people to register to open a bank account to run ads. for e-commerce platforms”. Ms. Can Hai Y. texted the subject and was hired to open an account for 200,000 VND/account.
The subject hired a motorbike taxi to contact Y. to deliver 6 phone SIMs for Y. to use to register to open a bank account. Ms. Y. directly opened a bank account and asked her mother, brother-in-law; hired classmates, neighbors, and cousins to open accounts for 150,000 VND/account.
Warning about the Risk Trap of Selling or Renting Bank Accounts
Faced with the situation of buying and selling bank accounts, carrying out sophisticated fraud on cyberspace, recently, the Hanoi City Police have issued a warning about the “trap“ of risks when selling or leasing bank accounts.
According to the Hanoi City Police, the buying and selling of bank accounts to carry out fraud is currently an alarming issue. Although the competent authorities have repeatedly warned, as well as resolutely implemented drastic solutions to prevent and protect the rights and interests of organizations and individuals, this situation still occurs frequently and is becoming increasingly widespread.
According to the Hanoi City Police, the subjects use hundreds of groups on cyberspace, through social networks such as Facebook, Telegram, Zalo, etc., and then publicly post information about buying and selling bank accounts.
With a few hundred thousand VND, they can buy and sell a bank account, including a physical card and a phone SIM registered for the Mobile Banking service.
“This situation not only causes great financial damage to the victims but also undermines trust in the financial and banking system. This is a serious violation of the law, with the potential for crime, especially fraud, illegal appropriation of property, money laundering, gambling, and directly affecting security and order,” the Hanoi City Police said.
This unit also said that currently, many banks have policies to reduce administrative procedures, creating all favorable conditions to help people easily open accounts. Therefore, criminals use many sophisticated tricks to buy and sell account information illegally.
Next, the scammers will find people with the same name as the account on social networks to carry out the fraud. They can directly access Facebook accounts or send links on social networks to embed malware. Even sending emails containing links leading to websites for the purpose of stealing accounts. Specifically, the following tricks can be mentioned:
Firstly, online trading. Fraudsters often find available bank accounts on forums or via social networks on websites where they post directly, or seek out people who are willing to sell or rent their accounts to execute transactions.
The second trick, the subjects can rent bank accounts from the owners for the temporary purpose of making transactions on cyberspace. The account holder may not be aware of the actual purpose of using his/her account.
The third trick, creating fake accounts, taking advantage of fake ID cards, or using stolen personal information, scammers can open bank accounts. These accounts are then used for the purpose of committing illegal acts.
Fourthly, taking advantage of the accounts of relatives and friends, taking advantage of their acquaintance, or pretending to be bank employees who are fulfilling the target of opening a card account, needing a large number of accounts, and achieving good results. Therefore, the person who opens the account is the account holder.
The fifth trick is to use high technology, scammers steal the identities of some users. The purpose of this action is to collect videos recorded directly on the victims’ faces to serve electronic authentication to bypass the system of banks.
Using this trick, they can create an account in the name of a specific person. Thereby, the victim does not know anything about creating an account. These fake but real bank accounts are then provided to the ordering party to execute according to their requirements.
According to the Hanoi Police, when people rent or sell bank accounts, they can face a series of serious risks, not only in terms of the law but also related to finances, reputation, and personal security.
They may even be investigated and prosecuted for acts related to illegal transactions even if they do not directly participate in the fraud, they may still be considered accomplices or their actions may be considered aiding and abetting crime.
Subjects may be subject to prosecution for the crime of illegally collecting, storing, exchanging, buying, selling, and publicizing bank account information.
