Vice Minister of Public Security Le Quy Vuong (R) hands over the Prime Minister's letter to a representative of Hanoi police. (Photo: Nhan Dan newspaper)

The letter said the successful mission demonstrates the police's high responsibility and sharp professional skills and contributes to ensuring political security, social safety and order, as well as building Vietnamese police’s image internationally.  

“On behalf of the Government, I acknowledge and highly value the achievements of the Ministry of Public Security in general and Hanoi police in particular in safeguarding political stability as well as social safety and order,” the PM said, expressing his wish for further feats to be made in the future.

In May, the Ministry of Public Security and the US’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) began a joint probe into a gang of Vietnamese who created 110 e-commerce websites that fraudulently offered sought-after medical products during the pandemic, such as face masks, hand sanitiser, and toilet paper.

Over 5,000 Americans had attempted to purchase these items from the websites. They made payments through e-wallets but never received the goods. The transactions were estimated to be valued at around 975,000 USD.

Hanoi police arrested Nguyen Duy Toan and Phan Dinh Thu, both 33 and from the central province of Thanh Hoa; Tran Quoc Khanh, 36, from Hanoi’s Hoang Mai district; and Do Chi Huy, 27, from the Central Highlands province Dak Lak.

Toan is accused of being the mastermind behind the fraud.