A South Korean who was scammed and held captive in Vietnam has been rescued by the Vietnamese police.
Local Vietnamese media VN Express and Vietnam News reported on the 26th (local time) that the Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Chinese national Luo Shenghua and three Vietnamese accomplices on charges of illegal detention. They are accused of unlawfully holding three South Koreans in a luxury apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City.
The South Korean victims were lured to Vietnam by social media job postings promising high-paying jobs. They entered Vietnam after receiving funds for expenses like airfare, but instead of jobs, they were held captive in an apartment and demanded to pay about 4.5 million won as compensation.
The Chinese gang tasked their Vietnamese accomplices with holding the victims captive, paying them between 500,000 and 1 million dong (approximately 27,000 to 53,000 won) as daily wages.
Their criminal activities were uncovered when the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam reported the illegal detention to the local police. The local police rescued the South Korean victims from the detention site and apprehended the gang.
Vietnamese police authorities stated that they are facing a threat to public safety due to the practice of luring victims to Vietnam through job scams and holding them captive to extort money. Such crimes are not only occurring in Vietnam but also frequently happening in Cambodia and Myanmar.