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Vietnamese national ran ‘underground bank’

Nguyen Xuan Thuan
Nguyen Xuan Thuan (Twitter)

TOKYO (TR) – Law enforcement divisions in multiple locations, including Yamaguchi and Yamagata prefectures and Tokyo, have arrested a Vietnamese national for operating what is considered an “underground bank,” which funneled money illegally from Japan to Vietnam, reports Jiji Press (July 4).

In March of last year, Nguyen Xuan Thuan, a 28-year-old resident of Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward, allegedly sent 310,000 yen from two Vietnamese nationals residing in Japan to the bank accounts of their family members in Vietnam in exchange for a commission.

Police have accused Nguyen of violating the Banking Act regarding unlicensed operations. He has declined to comment on the allegations.

According to police, the suspect is believed to have made 13,000 similar transactions in sending a total of 2 billion yen from Japan to Vietnam since January of 2016. The transactions were conducted using virtual currencies and other means.

A regular bank charges several thousand yen per transaction. However, the suspects charged customers as little as 1,000 yen per transaction, police said.