Police in north-central Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa Province on Tuesday issued a notice to find the owners of three bank accounts that fell victim to a multinational fraud scheme.
The bank accounts, opened at Vietnamese lenders BIDV, MBBank and Sacombank, belong to Tran Thi Lan Huong, Nguyen Van Tien, and Nguyen Thi Xa Ri, respectively.
They are victims in a multinational fraud scheme run by Ajearo Chukwugekwu Godwin, 34, a national of Nigeria, and his partners.
The Nigerian and his team scammed the victims by asking them to make wire transfers in order to receive gifts sent from abroad.
Godwin was arrested by Thanh Hoa police officers following a report by a local resident in early May about being conned out of nearly VND900 million (US$38,800) by a foreigner on a social network.
With sufficient evidence obtained, officers accused Godwin of being the main suspect in the fraud case.
He also allegedly led a transnational Internet fraud ring.
By utilizing a Facebook account under the name Johnson Alex, he targeted gullible Vietnamese women through messaging platforms with the promise of sending gold, silver, jewelry, and foreign currencies from abroad provided that the victims transferred money to designated 'airline staff' in advance.
The case is being further investigated while investigators are calling on victims to come forward.