Around 4,000 individuals have fallen victim to a fraudulent foreign exchange trading platform named Verbo Capital, resulting in total losses of approximately 300 billion VND (about 12 million USD). The platform was recently dismantled by Vietnamese police.

The Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security, in coordination with the Bac Ninh Provincial Police, successfully cracked down on the criminal network, officially shutting down the Verbo Capital platform.

Authorities have initiated criminal proceedings and prosecuted 10 suspects involved in the case for fraudulent appropriation of assets.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, the criminals used the Verbo Capital forex platform to deceive and steal large sums of money from victims across the country. The scheme was orchestrated by a group of Chinese nationals, with assistance from several Vietnamese individuals who were responsible for recruiting and enticing agents and investors.

Among them were Nguyen Van Chung (born 1995, from An Phu, An Giang Province) and Pham Tran Phuong Anh (born 1999, from Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City).

The suspects created a fake forex trading platform named Verbo Capital and established a closed-loop pyramid scheme. They built a multi-level marketing-style network of employees, assigning specific roles and using social media platforms like Facebook, Zalo, and Telegram to advertise, recruit, and lure people into investing.

Once investors agreed to join, they were added to private groups. Here, the fraudsters - posing as financial experts - would advise on trading strategies and persuade users to follow their guidance. They also helped victims register accounts and begin trading on Verbo Capital.

As participants invested on the platform, the perpetrators instructed them on how to open accounts, deposit funds, and place orders. However, behind the scenes, they manipulated the trading process by interfering with order execution and adjusting the spread (the difference between buy and sell prices), causing investors to lose money at the scammers’ discretion.

When investors attempted to withdraw their funds, the criminals delayed the process, persuading them to continue trading, which ultimately led to the depletion of their accounts. The stolen funds were then divided among the fraudsters according to their positions in the organizational hierarchy.

From September 2024 until now, the platform facilitated around 5,700 transactions involving 4,000 victims, with a total deposited amount of roughly 300 billion VND.

To successfully dismantle the operation, police deployed five task forces to simultaneously arrest suspects in various provinces and cities across the country. Authorities seized 26 computers, 1 iPad, 1 printer, 32 mobile phones, 1 car, and froze approximately 8.5 billion VND (about 340,000 USD) in bank accounts linked to the criminal activity.

Investigations are ongoing as law enforcement continues to expand the case and pursue other individuals involved.

T. Nhung