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About three years ago, check counterfeiting began emanating from the Garden Grove, California, area. This location was home to “Little Saigon,” the largest community of Vietnamese nationals outside of Saigon and a source of ongoing trouble for law enforcement agencies. Certain of the scams that began in Little Saigon quickly spread to other areas of the country.
Two banks with branches in West Michigan were hit with about 200 counterfeit checks and investigation revealed ties to the California community. Old Kent Bank and NBD Bank were scammed out of more than $134,000.
Those arrested as a result of the Michigan investigation included Nghi Vu Tran of Los Angeles, Buu Tan Pham of Los Angeles, Manh Van Huynh of Wyoming (Michigan), Hiep Van Luong of Wyoming, Nguyen Van Nguyen of Fairfax, Virginia and Mihn Ly Nguyen of Tampa, Florida.
The defendants advised the FBI that ringleader Tran obtained photocopies of checks issued by area businesses and then sent them to a business accomplice, Ngoc Nguyen, in California. Ngoc Nguyen then manufactured blank checks to resemble the originals and typed in ethnic Vietnamese names as payee. After the checks were cashed, a large percentage of the profits were wired to Ngoc Nguyen.
The defendants were all sentenced to make restitution. Additionally, they all received prison sentences ranging from one month to 27 months. Because they were convicted of felonies, each is subject to deportation. Ngoc Nguyen is being tried in California on similar charges.
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