Foreigner in custody for credit card fraud in Vietnam’s Central Highlands

On December 5, a group of two Korean men and one Vietnamese woman entered a branch of Vietnamese mobile phone retailer Mobile World on Phan Dinh Phung Street in Da Lat City, which is the capital of Lam Dong.

The three picked their products after browsing the store and requested a private room without security cameras in order to secure their passwords during the credit card payment process.

After being taken to the room as required, the Koreans returned with three receipts worth a total of VND10.2 million (US$453.7) after conducting their payment on the point-of-sale (POS) device.

The three suspects then left the store before the money was wired to the store account.

The security system at the Credit Card Center of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam then informed employees at its division in Lam Dong about the potential of an international credit card fraud.

The Social Order Crime Investigation Police Department in Lam Dong was notified of the case and summoned Hwang Inchan, 41, who is of Korean nationality.

Evidence gathered from the bank data and the receipts provided by the store clerks showed that the transaction was complete as the suspects used the international account of a U.S. citizen to carry out their payment on the POS device.

Hwang admitted that he committed the crime on Wednesday with help from another Korean man, whose name is unknown to him, and Hoang Thi Thu Ha, a 38-year-old Vietnamese woman.

The three conducted the fraud by cloning the compromised information on to the counterfeit card and used it on the POS device, according to Hwang’s statement.

They only succeeded three times out of a total of 20 attempts, he said.

Ha, who is from Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, also admitted the act while working with competent authorities and claimed that the other Korean man was Kim Sun Sig, 43.

Lam Dong police are coordinating with the Ministry of Public Security to expand investigation into the case and hunt down the third suspect.