Police in Da Nang inspected a facility at 1083-1085 Nguyen Tat Thanh in Thanh Khe ward at about 2pm on 19 November 2025 and found 63 people using networked computers in what officers treated as suspected high-tech crime, according to the Ministry of Public Security1. The Criminal Police Division, working with the Cyber Security Division and Thanh Khe ward police, later charged 19 people1.
The investigation describes a company-style operation. Around 2019, Tran Le Duy, born 1983, was hired by an unidentified woman, described in the account as residing in Thailand or Cambodia, to set up and run an information technology software business carrying out projects she supplied1. In 2022 Duy recruited Le Cong Son, born 1988, and made him project manager1. From early 2023, Duy worked with a man named Torres, said to be based in Cambodia, on online betting websites covering football betting, online cockfighting, lottery, casino, tai xiu and xoc dia1. The work included changing interfaces, creating promotions and events, adding deposit and withdrawal functions in Vietnamese dong and in crypto such as USDT and ETH, and maintaining or fixing the sites1.
At the time of the inspection, police said technical staff computers held folders with code written to modify and upgrade online betting websites1:
Investigators said the group built and updated betting sites and combined deposit and withdrawal through banks, e-wallets and crypto for partners in Cambodia, who put them into operation for gambling on the internet1.
All 63 employees held university degrees in computer technology, finance or accounting, the account states1. Staff were told to use nicknames rather than real names and to work only on company-issued computers, not personal devices, and the group set up chat groups hosted from abroad1.
"Phòng Cảnh sát hình sự đã tiến hành khởi tố vụ án, khởi tố bị can đối với 19 đối tượng"
The 19 were charged under Article 288 of the Penal Code, covering the illegal provision or use of computer network and telecommunications network information1.
What it means for players
The case concerns people who built and maintained betting sites, not players who used them. No player arrests are reported in the account1. The sites named are offshore-facing and were serviced from Vietnam for partners described as based in Cambodia1, which is the pattern behind many of the offshore sites that Vietnamese residents, expats and visitors encounter. When a site's technical team is disrupted, the practical effects players notice are outages, stalled deposits and withdrawals, and changes to payment routes. The account states that deposit and withdrawal functions ran through banks, e-wallets and crypto including USDT and ETH1, the same channels covered in our guide to renting out bank accounts or e-wallets to gambling sites. Vietnam's rules on online gambling apply to players as well as operators, and enforcement against players in the region is tracked in our guide to arrests of players for online gambling in Asia.
What happens next
Police said they are continuing to widen the investigation and trace remaining suspects for handling under the law1. No court dates, trial schedule or further charges have been reported1.
