A criminal group defrauded more than 3,600 customers by selling fake activation codes for online education courses.

The Hanoi People’s Procuracy has officially indicted three suspects - Ha Thi Hoa (born 1993), Tran Quang Vinh (born 1990), both from Ha Dong District, and An Bao Trung (born 1994) from Nghe An Province - for "fraudulent appropriation of property" and "using computer networks, telecommunications networks, and electronic means to commit property appropriation."

According to the indictment, Topica English Education Joint Stock Company (Topica) operates an online education platform via www.edumall.vn, offering video-based courses in English, art, and life skills. These courses are recorded by instructors and then licensed to partner companies, with Topica receiving an 18% profit share.

In August 2018, Pham Van Hoang, director of Only Company, signed a service contract with Topica, allowing Only Company to contact potential customers interested in purchasing Edumall’s online courses.

At that time, Ha Thi Hoa was a customer service representative at Only Company and had access to Hoang’s customer database. Exploiting security loopholes in Topica’s sales management system, Hoa, her husband Tran Quang Vinh, and An Bao Trung created fake Edumall courses or stole legitimate activation codes from Topica to sell them to customers, pocketing the payments.

Hoa and Vinh replicated Topica’s packaging and activation codes and hired Nguyen Thi Thoa to produce fake envelopes and code cards. Hoa then distributed these counterfeit activation codes to customers via postal services or through delivery personnel like Le Huy Thai.

The indictment states that between March 2 and March 29, 2019, 3,625 fake activation packages were successfully delivered to customers, generating over $60,000 (1.5 billion VND) in illicit earnings.

Upon discovering the fraud, affected customers reported their inability to access the purchased courses to Topica. To protect its customers, Topica provided legitimate course activation codes to 2,114 affected users, incurring a financial loss of over $35.5 million (891 billion VND).

During the investigation, Hoa voluntarily surrendered $40,000 (1 billion VND) to authorities as partial restitution.

An Bao Trung, another customer service employee at Topica, exploited his access to the company’s management system to retrieve Edumall activation codes and sell them fraudulently. Between September 10, 2018, and May 16, 2019, Trung sold activation codes to 624 customers, amassing over $12,000 (298 million VND) in illicit profits. After being caught, he returned $11,980 (297 million VND) to investigators as compensation.

Beyond these cases, Topica has requested further investigation into other individuals involved in unauthorized distribution of its course materials. Between October 2018 and June 2019, these individuals sold 1,688 additional fake course packages, generating over $31,500 (782 million VND) in illegal revenue.

Authorities have identified potential violations of intellectual property laws, particularly copyright infringement. Documents related to these offenses have been separated for further investigation and prosecution.

The trial for this case is scheduled for March 10.

T. Nhung