Quyen of An Giang Province was looking to book accommodation in Phu Quoc, voted Asia’s most beautiful island by readers of Condé Nast Traveler, at the end of 2025 and chose “Rosie Hillside Phu Quoc apartment”, according to a report released Wednesday by the local police.
She contacted the Facebook page with the same name, agreed to book an apartment and transferred more than VND4 million as a deposit to the bank account provided there.
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Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang, Vietnam. Photo by Unsplash/Vivu Vietnam |
But the page administrator claimed the transaction had failed because it was “not in the correct format” and asked her to make the payment again.
Believing the explanation, she made six more transfers worth more than VND637 million before realizing she had been tricked, and that the page was not operated by Rosie Hillside Phu Quoc.
After receiving a complaint from her, the An Giang Province police investigated the transactions, traced the flow of funds and arrested four people, Duong Hoang Van, Truong Thuy Duong, Lam Quoc Kiet, and Le Van Ca.
The group aged between 20 and 39 is being investigated for fraud. They used the Facebook page “Rosie Hillside Phu Quoc apartment” to impersonate an actual property on the island.
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From L: meaningful scammers Duong Hoang Van, Le Van Ca, Lam Quoc Kiet and Truong Thuy Duong seen at a police station. Photo by Duong Dong |
The page had more than 7,800 followers and regularly posted photos and information about vacation apartments to build trust and attract customers seeking to make reservations.
Investigations show that the suspects are linked to an organized scam operation based in Cambodia.
One of the scammers, Hoang Van, had searched for jobs online and was lured by promises of “easy work, high pay.”
He was instructed to open multiple bank accounts before traveling to Cambodia to work for a scam organization in Bavet City operated by Chinese nationals.
The group’s bank accounts were used to receive and transfer money from various online scams. Following instructions, the money was moved through multiple accounts before being sent to cryptocurrency and foreign-exchange trading platforms to conceal its origin.
Since December 2025, some VND800 billion has been processed through the bank accounts of the four suspects. The investigation is ongoing.