An Iranian man used a sleight-of-hand trick to steal VND 20 million from a female employee at a badminton shop in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, deceiving her in just seconds.
On February 5, District 11 Police, in coordination with the Criminal Police Department of HCMC, announced the arrest of a foreign suspect involved in the theft.
On the evening of February 2, a 23-year-old female salesperson at a badminton shop on Lac Long Quan Street assisted a foreign customer. The man expressed interest in a badminton racket worth VND 1.3 million and handed over a 100 USD bill for payment.
As the employee was processing the transaction, the man began pointing at the cash drawer, speaking in a foreign language that she found difficult to understand. He then requested change in Vietnamese currency and insisted on handling the cash himself under the pretext of helping her understand the denomination of the USD bill.
While holding a stack of money, the man quickly grabbed it, shuffled the bills continuously, and kept speaking, creating confusion and distraction for the employee.
After a brief exchange, he appeared dissatisfied, returned the stack of cash, and left the store. Moments later, the employee counted the money again and discovered VND 20 million was missing. She immediately reported the incident to the police.
Following the report, District 11 Police and HCMC Criminal Police launched an investigation. The suspect was tracked to an apartment in Tan Binh District, where authorities took him into custody for questioning.
The suspect identified himself as Hesmati Norouz, born in 1982 and of Iranian nationality. During interrogation, he admitted to committing the theft.
Authorities are now conducting further investigations to determine whether the suspect was involved in other similar cases.
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Source: Vietnam Insider