Criminal ring exposed for 'gift' scam selling fake goods in Vietnam

Vietnamese police have exposed a sophisticated scam targeting rural communities, where criminals posed as representatives of major companies to offer "free gifts" in exchange for purchasing low-quality goods at vastly inflated prices. The operation, led by Nguyen Van Quynh, involved the bulk purchase of inexpensive, unbranded household items such as induction cookers, rice cookers, and detergents with unclear origins.

The criminal ring specifically targeted women aged 40 to 70 in the Mekong Delta provinces of Vĩnh Long, An Giang, and Đồng Tháp. Their primary tactic involved infiltrating villages by befriending locals and offering "gift vouchers" for distribution. These vouchers, often for items like laundry detergent, were presented as genuine customer appreciation gifts, leveraging the trust placed in the local distributors.

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But these vouchers are the perfect 'smokescreen.' When rural women see their acquaintances, close neighbors, distributing them, they believe it and flock to the meeting point on time.

Once a sufficient number of people gathered, believing they were receiving free items or participating in a promotional event, the scammers would begin their manipulation. They employed psychological tactics, fabricating stories about their products being selected for distribution in major supermarkets and framing the current offers as "trial uses" rather than sales. This elaborate scheme aimed to trick unsuspecting residents into buying substandard products at exorbitant prices.

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To gain trust, the group repeatedly wove in fabricated stories, claiming the products were about to be introduced into famous supermarket systems and that today was only for 'trial use, not for sale.'