Vietnam has apprehended seven suspects from a money-laundering group linked to a bank-impersonation voice-phishing case that occurred in October 2024, according to a National Police Agency release dated 13 October 2026.
How the trail led abroad
Japanese police first arrested suspects connected to the case and examined the evidence they seized. That evidence showed exchanges with a Vietnamese money-laundering group and with a person the release describes as the ringleader of the voice phishing. Japan passed that information to Vietnam, which then apprehended seven suspects from the group.
The Japanese side of the investigation was run by a joint investigation headquarters made up of the NPA's Cyber Special Investigation Department and the prefectural police of Saitama, Yamagata, Ibaraki, Gunma and Chiba. That team arrested a suspect who acted as the go-between with the Vietnamese group. The NPA says information from that investigation let it identify the group, and that close coordination with Vietnam on the suspects' identities and other necessary details led to the arrests.
What the agency says comes next
The NPA calls cooperation with foreign investigators indispensable for cases run across borders and on a global scale. It says it will keep strengthening that cooperation to protect Japanese people from special fraud and cyber-related crime.
The release gives neither the date of the Vietnamese arrests nor the amount lost in the 2024 case. For the wider loss picture, see Earlier Tokyo Brief coverage.