"Promised High-Paying Jobs"... Koreans Trapped in Employment Scam Rescued by Vietnamese Police

Lured Through Social Media
Victims Promised High-Paying Jobs, Then Detained by Scam Ring in Vietnam

Three Koreans who were lured into an employment scam orchestrated by Chinese nationals and subsequently detained in Vietnam have been safely rescued by local police.

According to local media outlets such as VN Express and Vietnam News on August 26 (local time), the Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Chinese national Luo Shenghua and three Vietnamese accomplices on charges including illegal detention.

Luo and his group are accused of unlawfully confining three Koreans in a luxury apartment complex in Binh Duong Province, northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Investigations revealed that they enticed the victims through social networking services, promising high-paying jobs in Vietnam in exchange for nothing more than a passport photo.

The Ho Chi Minh City police in Vietnam are interrogating Luo Shenghua (right), the Chinese ringleader who lured and detained three Koreans through a job scam. Vietnam News website · Yonhap News Agency

The victims received airline tickets and airport pickup services from Luo's group and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on August 14. After bringing the victims to the apartment in Binh Duong Province, Luo and his accomplices detained them, threatening to either take over their bank accounts or demanding a compensation payment of 4.5 million won each.

Luo reportedly assigned his Vietnamese accomplices the task of guarding the victims, promising them a daily wage of 500,000 to 1,000,000 dong (approximately 27,000 to 53,000 won) per person. However, their scheme was uncovered when the Korean Embassy in Vietnam reported to local police that three Koreans were being illegally detained.

Local police apprehended Luo and his accomplices and safely rescued the Korean victims. The Ho Chi Minh City police are expanding their investigation in cooperation with other regional authorities to dismantle such foreign human trafficking rings.

Meanwhile, in recent times, some Southeast Asian countries have been facing issues with large-scale scam operations where criminal organizations lure or kidnap foreigners, including Chinese and Koreans, and force them to commit crimes such as voice phishing and online fraud. This problem has reportedly become even more rampant in areas with relatively weak public security, such as Cambodia and Myanmar.