From Go Kunming
During a time of tense and increasingly complicated political relations, China and its southern neighbor Vietnam are still finding ways to cooperate, at least in the realm of law enforcement. Police from both countries announced Tuesday they have jointly broken up a cross-border telecommunications swindle that bilked its unwitting victims out of at least two million yuan.
A man talks on a cell phone in Beijing. (WANG ZHAO/AFP/Getty Images)
Police operating in the northern city of Haiphong apprehended 44 people during a sting operation. Only three of the suspects arrested are Vietnamese, while the others hold Chinese or Taiwanese passports. All of those taken into custody were charged with “appropriating property through swindling” under Article 139 of the country’s penal code — a broad set of laws covering everything from human and drug trafficking to crimes involving fraud.
The racket uncovered this week is reminiscent of now-clichéd scam emails involving African princes needing financial help — a version of the ploy often referred to as ‘The Spanish Prisoner’. The group operating out of Vietnam would call people in mainland China often under the guise of working for the country’s Public Security Bureau.
Potential victims were routinely told they were under investigation for money laundering and were required by law to deposit their existing bank balances into a law enforcement account pending investigation. Reluctant targets were threatened with legal repercussions until they agreed to cooperate.
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