Del Rosario Rafael Macapanas, a Filipino national, and his accomplices befriended elderly tourists, invited them to their rented apartments to play cards, and used counterfeit dollars to trick them into withdrawing cash, ultimately stealing it.
On July 23, Del Rosario Rafael Macapanas (40 years old, Filipino national) and five compatriots were arrested and detained by the Criminal Police Department (PC02) of the Ho Chi Minh City Police for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.
Previously, Team 5 of PC02 discovered a group of foreigners showing signs of fraud, frequently approaching tourists, and coordinated with the Ben Thanh Ward Police to verify and investigate.
According to the investigating agency, this group often approached elderly foreign tourists traveling alone. After gaining their trust, they invited the victims to their rented apartments to play cards.Here, members were assigned specific roles. Rafael is accused of being the ringleader, directly dealing cards and arranging for the victims to win repeatedly. The others pretended to be acquaintances they'd met by chance, inviting them to gamble or posing as wealthy players.
Once the victims believed they could easily win, the group moved on to the next step. One person would pretend to lose repeatedly, suggesting raising the stakes to recoup their losses, while using counterfeit dollars as valuable assets to gain trust.
Using the excuse that both parties needed to prove their financial capability before continuing to play with larger sums of money, the group would ask the victims to bring cash to the gambling location. Then, the suspects would take advantage of the victims' inattention or create a diversion to steal all the money before fleeing.
According to investigators, after each incident, the stolen money was divided proportionally. The person who approached and lured the victim received 20%; Those directly involved in the gambling received 5%; Rafael, in particular, received 10% for his role in organizing and controlling the card dealing.
Investigators determined that from May until their discovery, the group allegedly successfully carried out 18 scams, stealing approximately $10,000.