Vietnamese Woman Arrested in Thailand Over Alleged $300M Crypto Scam

Ngo Thi Theu, a 30-year old Vietnamese woman allegedly involved in a cryptocurrency scam that deceived 2,600 victims and resulted in losses totalling $300 million, has been arrested in Thailand, Asia News Network reported on Tuesday.

Law enforcement agencies had put out an Interpol red notice to track the Vietnamese woman down. She was arrested by the Thai Crime Suppression Division (CSD) at a hotel last Friday, ANN reported. CoinDesk was unable to contact the Thai Crime Suppression Division.

She was a key figure in a network that involved 35 officials and over 1,000 employees working across 44 call centres in Vietnam, the news site said. Theu allegedly lured people to invest in crypto and foreign exchange trading platforms by promising monthly returns of 20% to 30%, the report said.

Many citizens in Vietnam invest in crypto, making the nation vulnerable to crypto criminals who want to take advantage of the demand in the area. Data published recently showed that 21.2% of the 100 million people that live in the nation invest in crypto.