Hanoi-based company vice director investigated for billion-dollar illegal cryptocurrency ring

Hanoi police on Thursday launched legal proceedings against Than Van Thoai, vice director of Global BBA, and seven others for their involvement in a billion-dollar illegal cryptocurrency ring.

They are charged with "violating regulations on multi-level businesses".

Thoai, 40, is accused of running the cryptocurrency ring with multi-marketing schemes that hosted hundreds of thousands of accounts, potentially worth billions of U.S. dollars.

According to investigators, in 2019, Thoai bought the CashBack Pro (CBP) foreign cryptocurrency project from a foreign partner to facilitate his business activities.

Through his connections with foreigners, he created virtual transactions and advertised the CBP cryptocurrency on certain websites, as well as developing applications where users can gain commissions as CBP coins.

Thoai also created the Speeding.vip website to call for investments, and developed systems to convert commissions into cryptocurrency. He created the CBP Wallet to provide CBP coins under multi-marketing schemes.

He then advertised the project, saying participants could earn commissions directly and bonuses if they connected with the community or opened their own investment accounts in the network.

Authorities said Thoai established Global BBA company to organize training and advertising events.

The company did not obtain a license as a multi-marketing business, yet he still directed his subordinates to organize conferences at the company’s headquarters in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan district on financial management, how to get rich, and the benefits of CBP coins, as well as participation in the Speeding.vip community.

Several policies were introduced by Thoai’s group to attract investors, such as paying 0.5% in interest per day, commissions of 12-50%, and other bonuses.

Investors would be provided with packages of different values, ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, and packages with higher values would generate better bonuses.

Each person looking to participate in the network would either introduce two others, or open two accounts themselves.

From March 2021 to June 2024, Thoai and his accomplices are accused of creating investment communities with hundreds of thousands of accounts, with the values of investment packages amounting to tens of billions of U.S. dollars.

Previously, in May 2024, Thoai and Ho Quoc Anh, chairman of BBI Vietnam Internet Technology JSC, were also put under investigation for appropriation of property using a computer network, a telecommunications network, and electronic devices.