[September 06, 2011] BRIEF: Vietnam detains Chinese, Taiwanese in fraud case Tweet HANOI, Sep 06, 2011 (dpa - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Police in southern Vietnam have detained 62 people on suspicion of impersonating officials to steal millions of dollars, authorities said Tuesday. "We have detained 28 Chinese and 31 Taiwanese people, as well as three locals who acted as interpreters," said Colonel Nguyen Trung Nghia of the Phu Yen Province Police Department. The group are accused of impersonating customs and tax officials to dupe people into giving away personal bank account information. The victims were contacted by telephone and told their accounts had been hacked and they should transfer their money into a supposed police account, which was fake. Police said some of the victims had lost millions of dollars. The gang is also accused of using the fake identities to blackmail illegal businesses run by Chinese and Taiwanese people in the country. "It is the first case of its kind in the province," Nghia said. There have been five similar cases reported nationwide. Police seized 108 telephones, 18 laptops, 13 walkie-talkies and other high-tech equipment, said Pham Van Hoa, director of the province's police department. Phu Yen police were looking to coordinate their investigation with authorities in China. ___ (c)2011 Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) Visit Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) at www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]