Police in Vietnam have taken down a cryptocurrency mining scam that targeted over 200 locals and stole over $150,000.
A report from local media outlet VnExpress claims four individuals, including 41-year-old Tran Minh Quang, have been arrested in Dong Nai Province in connection with the elaborate fraud.
The scam in question was orchestrated via a fake cryptocurrency mining platform dubbed BitMiner, which offered unrealistic profit potential for investments.
To mislead local authorities, the website was hosted on a domain based outside the country in Singapore.
Tran Minh Quang arrested by Vietnam police. Source: VnExpress.
Quang, who is considered the mastermind behind the scheme, and his co-conspirators advertised BitMiner as a Dubai-based company, leveraging the city’s reputation as a global crypto hub to gain investor trust and mask their true intentions.
The scam
According to authorities, the group recruited several promoters by promising them profits to bring in new investors.
The promoters were trained to present BitMiner as a legitimate and highly profitable cryptocurrency mining platform equipped with advanced artificial intelligence-powered technologies.
Further, they are equipped with manipulated trading accounts and other marketing materials to mislead victims into investing in several investment packages offered by the scammers.
BitMiner offered four mining packages, namely Red Diamond, Blue Diamond, Diamond Gold, Black Diamond, and Green Diamond, each claiming to offer different levels of mining speed and profitability.
To make the facade appear more real, investors were also invited to participate in online forums and training sessions where they were given presentations about advanced AI-powered mining technologies and promised guaranteed returns on their investments, the report added.
However, instead of being used for cryptocurrency mining, all the funds collected from the victims were funnelled directly into digital wallets controlled by Minh and his accomplices.
Authorities estimate that the scheme defrauded investors of approximately 4 billion Vietnamese dong (US$157,300) before it was dismantled.
A surge in crypto scams in Vietnam
Authorities in Vietnam have had to deal with several major cryptocurrency-related scams over the past few months.
Last month, Police in Hanoi raided the headquarters of Million Smiles, a scam crypto firm that sold a fake cryptocurrency to investors and raked in over 30 billion Vietnamese dongs valued at over $1 million.
Dubbed the Quantum Financial System coin, the token was advertised as being backed by ancient treasures, but in reality, it was just a gimmick.
Funds acquired from investments were used for the scammers’ personal gains and used to acquire office spaces in upscale villa areas to add more legitimacy to the entire act.
Similarly, in October, law enforcement took down a global crypto fraud network running romance scams operated by bad actors from the Laos’ Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.
The scheme promoted another fake platform dubbed Biconomynft, which accrued over 17.6 billion VND while the scam was operational.
As previously reported by Invezz, the crypto sector lost over $3.6 billion to cryptocurrency investment scams in 2024.
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