Fake Huấn Hoa Hồng company allegedly lured hundreds into online-loan scam

Da Nang police have arrested eight suspects in an alleged online-loan fraud network that posed as a company linked to Vietnamese internet personality Huấn Hoa Hồng and took more than 4 billion dong from victims.

The city’s Criminal Police Division announced the arrests on September 5. Investigators said the group used Huấn Hoa Hồng’s images and videos to attract hundreds of people seeking loans across Vietnam. The suspects allegedly presented the operation as Huấn Hoa Hồng’s company, connected to a bank, before directing potential borrowers to communicate through Zalo.

Police began investigating after identifying suspected activity by Nguyễn Hà Hiền, 28, of Hanoi. Further inquiries uncovered a cross-provincial network, prompting the creation of special case 148L. Investigators said the suspects operated from different locations, making the case difficult to pursue.

According to police, the group used Telegram to assign tasks and discuss methods for dealing with individual victims. It also created Facebook pages named “Huan Linh Group,” bought phones with prepaid SIM cards, and prepared Zalo, banking and Facebook accounts for the alleged fraud. When they feared detection, the suspects allegedly deleted information, concealed their identities, watched for surveillance and repeatedly changed accommodation.

Three teams from Da Nang police, working with officers in Hanoi’s Thanh Liệt and Phú Lương wards, arrested the eight suspects in Hanoi. Police identified them as Vũ Đức Phong, Nguyễn Hà Hiền, Nguyễn Khắc Đoan, Nguyễn Hữu Sơn, Hoàng Văn Tiến, Nguyễn Mạnh Quang, Trần Thị Diệu Linh and Phạm Văn Hiệp. Investigators said Phong recruited Hiền and Đoan and created a Telegram group called “Agency” to run the operation. The supplied report ends as the group begins describing what happened after victims submitted personal and identity-card information.