Police in Lang Son have busted a ring of seven young online scammers who set up shop in a rented house back in August, stocking up on mobile phones, SIM cards, and bank accounts.
The gang used real e-commerce delivery data to target buyers, splitting themselves into a slick, three-tier operation. The first group would call victims posing as delivery drivers, claiming an error had locked them into a massive four-million-dong monthly subscription. When panicked victims tried to cancel, they were handed off to a second group playing warehouse staff, who then passed them to a third group operating fake Facebook accounts disguised as the courier company. Step by step, they reeled victims in until they transferred their cash. By the time police moved in, the scam had raked in close to 400 million dong.
Investigators revealed that the mastermind, 23-year-old Hanoi native Nguyen Van Hau, previously worked for a foreign-run scam outfit in Cambodia. When authorities in Vietnam ramped up crackdowns, he slipped back across the border—though he kept in touch with his overseas handlers. Using the playbook he learned abroad, Hau rented the hideout, bought the gear, set up the fake profiles, and handed out wages while pulling the strings from behind the scenes. The other six suspects are mostly Gen-Z kids in their early twenties. All seven are now behind bars facing criminal charges.
It’s a timely reminder for anyone waiting on a delivery: think twice before trusting strange phone calls, and never wire money or hand over OTP codes to strangers. Lang Son police advise checking directly with official channels if you get a suspicious call claiming to be from a courier or warehouse. And if you do fall victim, gather your proof and head straight to the provincial police headquarters to report it. With honest work hard to come by these days, it’s not worth throwing your future away for a quick buck—end up on the wrong side of the law, and you'll be eating prison food.
