Viet Cops Nab Two Organ Brokers

On Aug 24, 2018, police in Vietnam arrested two human organ brokers who were conning kidney patients into parting with up to US$24,000 for kidneys. Cops identified the two men as Mr Truong Minh Ngoc, 32, from Phu Tho Province; and Mr Tran Tuan Anh, 23, from Hanoi.

The desperate patient, Mr Duong Van Minh, 28, suffered from ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) in June 2018. He needed to find a donor, and contacted Ngoc through a social network.

Ngoc said he would broker the deal and find a kidney donor for him within two weeks for VND550 million (US$23,900). Ngoc asked Duong to pay a deposit of about 50% of the agreed amount first. That would cover the donor payment and the kidney transplant surgery.

After receiving the money, Ngoc and Anh cut off contact with the patient, who then called the cops. Under further investigation, police also discovered two other suspects who were part of the scam.

The gang confessed that they had conned about 40 people. At US$20,000 a pop, that’s US$800,000 that the organ brokers would have scammed out of desperate patients.

Here’s the link to the story.