On May 28, five suspects accused of running a large-scale crypto scheme called Matrix Chain were arrested by authorities in Vietnam.
The group is believed to have tricked thousands of people into handing over close to $394 million, or around 10 trillion VND.
The Ministry of Public Security stated that officers worked for 200 days to uncover how the group operated. The suspects, four men and one woman born between 1980 and 1991, were detained after police searched their homes and workplaces.
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According to investigators, the group promoted Matrix Chain to earn high returns and easy commissions. New users were told to pay just 1 USDT
The scam was reported to have operated across three major regions in Vietnam. Around 40% of the money brought in went to people tasked with finding new users, while 5% was used for marketing. The rest was reportedly spent on expensive items and property.
Police believe the main suspect behind the operation is Nguyen Quoc Hung. In 2023, he allegedly paid $20,000 to anonymous developers on Telegram to build the Matrix Chain platform. He and another person then managed a wallet containing 100 million MTC tokens.
Matrix Chain had over 185,000 registered accounts, with users sending in a total of 394.2 million USDT through SafePal wallets.
Authorities stated that they have frozen related accounts and seized property linked to the suspects.
On May 22, authorities in the United States and across Europe carried out an international operation, known as Operation RapTor. What is the target? Read the full story.
Having completed a Master’s degree in Economics, Politics, and Cultures of the East Asia region, Aaron has written scientific papers analyzing the differences between Western and Collective forms of capitalism in the post-World War II era.
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