TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Vietnamese national who is believed to be the leader of a ring whose members bought bank books and cash cards for sale to fraud groups, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Oct. 3).
Around February, Nguyen Tung Ngoc, a 23-year-old resident of Warabi City, Saitama Prefecture, allegedly bought a bank book and cash card from a student, also a Vietnamese national, for 20,000 yen at JR Nishi-Kawaguchi Station in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture.
Nguyen, who has been accused of violating the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds, admits to the allegations. “I did it other times,” the suspect told police. The student was also arrested in the case.
According to police, Nguyen used social media to offer to purchase bank account from Vietnamese students and interns in Japan. In May, police arrested four male and female nationals, aged in their 20s and 30s, who assisted Nguyen in the purchase of the accounts.
Between July of last year and this past May, Nguyen and the members of the ring purchased 1,800 bank accounts and resold them to fraud groups for 26 million yen, police said.
