Vietnamese Influencer 'Huấn Hoa Hồng' Arrested for Lottery Scam, Suspected of Billions in Illicit Gains

Bùi Xuân Huấn, a prominent Vietnamese influencer widely known as 'Huấn Hoa Hồng,' has been arrested on charges of defrauding numerous individuals by falsely claiming to possess advance knowledge of lottery results. On September 3rd, the investigative agency announced the indictment of five individuals, including Huấn, on charges of violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences and appropriating property through fraud. Huấn and his wife allegedly operated a business on the TikTok platform, generating an estimated total revenue exceeding 300 billion VND (approximately $12 million USD). However, they are suspected of not issuing value-added tax invoices and keeping this revenue off the books. The investigative authorities accuse Huấn of exploiting his social media influence, frequently posting on platforms like Facebook and Zalo with deceptive information and false claims about knowing daily lottery results in advance. Many individuals, trusting these claims, transferred money to Huấn's nine personal bank accounts in exchange for information on lottery numbers believed to have a high chance of winning. When these individuals did not win and demanded their money back, Huấn allegedly refused to return it. According to the investigative agency, Huấn is accused of appropriating over 3 billion VND (approximately $180,000 USD) between January and May 2019. In mid-August, Huấn was indicted and detained on charges of appropriating property through fraud (Article 174, Clause 4 of the Penal Code) and violating accounting regulations causing serious consequences (Article 221, Clause 3 of the Penal Code). As part of the same case, the investigative police have also indicted Hoàng Ngọc Cường (General Director of Chara Production and Trading JSC), Trương Thị Thương (Director of Tam Đại Mộc Trading and Services JSC), Phạm Thị Ngọc Linh (Huấn's wife, owner of Phạm Thị Ngọc Linh household business), and Kiều Thị Hồng (Cường's wife) for investigation under Article 221, Clause 3 of the Penal Code. Furthermore, Huấn is suspected of misusing charitable funds totaling billions of Vietnamese dong mobilized from various organizations and individuals. Information Source: VnExpress