Authorities in Vietnam city, Ho Chi Minh, have proposed the prosecution of two Nigerian nationals alongside 19 Vietnamese citizens for alleged involvement in an international money laundering and currency smuggling operation.
According to police investigators, the suspects used sophisticated techniques to compromise email communications between foreign companies engaged in business transactions.
They allegedly created fake email addresses nearly identical to legitimate partners and redirected payments to fraudulent accounts.
In one instance, December One Rnd Ltd, a Ukrainian company, lost \$314,850 after unknowingly transferring funds to a fake email address posing as its partner, Sungsan Electronics & Communications.
Efforts by the Ukrainian Embassy to freeze the funds with VietinBank were unsuccessful as the account had been emptied by the time the bank was contacted.
Investigators allege that Mai Tra My, who resides in Nigeria with her Nigerian husband, instructed an associate, Mai Vu Minh, to establish companies in Vietnam and open bank accounts to receive foreign currency transfers.
The money was then converted to Vietnamese dong and distributed through various channels.
Between December 2023 and March 2024, Minh received over $789,000 through three of his companies.
He reportedly earned a two-per-cent commission, amounting to VND383 million ($14,615), and helped transfer VND10 billion ($381,927) in cash to Cambodia.
In another case, Nigerian national Okoye Christinan Ikechukwy and his wife, Le Thi Tham, allegedly joined the network after being introduced by a friend.
From 2022 to 2024, Tham registered 53 companies, four of which reportedly received nearly $1.5 million.
The couple allegedly earned VND2 billion ($76,462) in commissions.
A third Nigerian suspect, Eneh Davidson Caleb, is accused of directing Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, a Vietnamese woman, to register over 100 companies used in the scheme.
Thuy received VND598.8 million ($22,857) for her role.
She later recruited another Vietnamese woman, Nguyen Thi Huong, who registered an additional 116 companies.
Together, their companies received over $3 million and more than €2.9 million from foreign sources.
The Ho Chi Minh City police say legal proceedings are ongoing. – Agency report.
