Man seized in $900 billion treasure scam

From Tuoi Tre News

Police from the Ministry of Public of Security have arrested a man who was a member of a swindling ring that claimed to possess treasures worth as much as US$900 billion as a bait to cheat others off money.

Nguyen Thanh Chon forges this “immunity” card on which his name, photo and his position as “member of the central strategic advisory board” were printed. From Tuoi Tre News.

The man, Nguyen Thanh Chon, was arrested at his home in District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, on Wednesday on charges of “swindling to appropriate assets,” said Colonel Nguyen Xuan Mung, deputy head of the Ministry of Public Security’s Security Investigation Agency.

The ring, which operated nationwide, ‘founded’ the so-called Hoa Mai Hoi (Apricot Society), a bogus organization that the ring claimed was controlling hundreds of treasures at home and abroad, including US dollars and ancient coins worth an astronomical US$900 billion, Mung said.

The ring’s members told their potential victims that the treasures were located at sacred and secret lands and were put under the care of a number of reputable elderly persons.

The swindlers said the year 2013 is an ideal time for exploiting three treasures and called on others to contribute large amounts of money to the Hoa Mai Hoi organization as “diplomatic expenses” so that it can contact Vietnam’s highest ranking officials to ask for permission to tap into these treasures.

The swindlers promised that those who contributed money would be paid back handsome rewards.

In order to persuade their victims to pay them billions of dong (VND1 billion = US$48,000) as “contributions to tapping into the treasures”, Chon even forged an “immunity” card on which his name, photo and his position as “member of the central strategic advisory board” were printed.

Read the full story from Tuoi Tre News.