Ho Chi Minh City Fake Stock Trading Platform Scam: Police Find 14 Foreigners in a Taped-Up House

Ho Chi Minh City police found 14 foreigners running fake stock-trading platforms from a house in Tân Mỹ ward, in what used to be District 7. Officers walked in at 18:30 on 4 November and found 13 Chinese nationals and one Moroccan. Police haven't said how many people were defrauded or how much money was taken.

How the house was found

The city police's immigration management office and the ward police made a surprise check during a sweep of foreigners living in the area, the ministry's newspaper CAND reported on 8 November. Tiền Phong reported that the glass doors were always taped over and only one person went out each day, to buy food.

None of the 14 had declared a temporary residence. Dân trí reported that the group's managers recruited the Chinese workers on social media and had them enter Vietnam illegally through informal border routes, then drove them to the house. No report explains how the Moroccan got in.

How the scam worked

The platforms imitated reputable exchanges. Staff were handed ready-made contact lists and scripts and approached people on WhatsApp. A victim who agreed to invest paid by scanning QR codes for bank accounts the managers controlled. The site then showed invented profits to draw in more deposits, and the money that came in was kept, VnExpress reported.

The reports don't name the platforms or the exchanges they imitated, and they don't say whether the targets were in Vietnam or abroad.

What was seized

Officers took 29 desktop computers, five laptops and 112 mobile phones, along with Wi-Fi equipment and scripts and documents suspected of relating to the fraud. CAND says the 14 admitted to violations. The immigration office has reported the case to the city police leadership, and investigators are working out each person's role.

No criminal case or deportation has been announced.