• Da Nang police announced on 4 November 2026 that 13 foreign nationals, two Chinese and 11 Indonesians, were arrested at a rented villa.
  • The group allegedly used WhatsApp and Telegram romance approaches and fake shopping tasks to defraud Indonesian victims.
  • The villa held 12 desktop computers and 87 mobile phones, and set-up costs were estimated at about US$60,000.
  • Victim numbers and total losses were not disclosed.

Police in Da Nang, Vietnam, said on 4 November 2026 that they had uncovered an alleged online fraud operation in a rented villa and arrested 13 foreign nationals, Viet Nam News reported. According to Da Nang police, the group allegedly used WhatsApp and Telegram to approach Indonesian victims, build romantic relationships and persuade them to invest money or complete online tasks.

The dating angle is indirect, since the approaches ran through messaging apps rather than a named dating product. Operators should still read the case closely, because the funnel is one their members meet every day.

The DII Take

As police describe it, this was a scam run like a call centre: scripts, teams, quotas, fines. The cold approach starts on social and messaging platforms, and the FTC's April 2026 data spotlight said nearly 60% of people who reported losing money to a romance scam in 2025 said it began on social media. Dating apps are not the only front door, but they are the one operators are expected to guard.

How the villa allegedly worked

Viet Nam News reported that Chinese national Xiong Zhouhua, named by police as ringleader, allegedly rented the villa on 9 September and fitted it with 12 desktop computers and 87 phones. He then allegedly recruited 11 Indonesians, housed them there and seized their passports. Initial set-up costs were estimated at about US$60,000.

Five teams of two allegedly followed a script, and some members allegedly impersonated women. Victims were pushed to deposit money on websites for shopping orders. Early small deposits were returned with commissions; larger ones were allegedly met with demands for extra payments and blocked withdrawals. The FTC describes a similar pattern in fake investment platforms.

Staff allegedly received US$700 a month plus a US$200 attendance bonus, and faced fines of US$400 to US$1,000 for missed targets. Whether some Indonesian recruits were themselves coerced is an open question, given the passport seizures. DII has not seen police address it.

What to watch

Police said the Criminal Police Division is continuing its investigation. Two Telegram groups were allegedly used, one supplying Indonesian bank accounts and one handling fake refunds, and unidentified members allegedly converted rupiah into USDT. No charges have been reported. The case follows a separate Thanh Hoa raid in which the Ministry of Public Security said on 4 November that 94 suspects had been charged. DII also covered the Malaysian arrests over a Telegram romance scam.

Initial set-up costs were estimated at about US$60,000.
  • Da Nang police allege a structured romance-and-task scam run over WhatsApp and Telegram, a pattern trust and safety teams should map against their own off-platform migration signals.
  • Charges, victim numbers and losses are undisclosed, so the case rests on Viet Nam News's account of police statements.

Sources: Viet Nam News via Asia News Network; Viet Nam News; Tuoi Tre News; Tuoi Tre News (Thanh Hoa case); US Federal Trade Commission