(TAP) - Vietnamese authorities have just dismantled a transnational commercial surrogacy ring led by a Chinese man named Wang (unknown background). The ring organized about 100 surrogacy cases, illegally earning hundreds of billions VND.
The children were rescued by the police. Source: giadinh.suckhoedoisong.vn
According to information on August 8 from Vietnamese media - Public Security News, after uncovering the activities of the surrogacy ring, on July 15, 2025, the Criminal Police Department (under the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam) simultaneously deployed professional measures and arrested several key suspects. Among them were Quach Thi Thuong (born 1985, residing in Lam Dong Province) and Pham Thi Hoai Thu (born 1987, residing in Hanoi), who served as the main contacts with Wang and were responsible for recruiting surrogate mothers and managing newborns. Other individuals, such as Phung Thi Nuong (born 1996), Lo Thi Thanh (born 1996), Nguyen Thi Thu Trang (born 1992),... were in charge of caring for the babies and forging official documents.
This criminal network operated in a sophisticated and professional manner, involving individuals from Vietnam, China and Cambodia. The group targeted Vietnamese women in difficult financial situations, luring them into surrogacy arrangements for payments ranging from 300 to 400 million VND per case. Meanwhile, families seeking surrogacy services were charged up to 2 to 2.5 billion VND by Wang and his accomplices. To conceal their activities, the group utilized information technology, divided the operation into separate stages and dispersed their activities across multiple locations.
At the investigation agency, the suspects confessed that in late 2021, Wang contacted Thuong via the social media platform Zalo to recruit Vietnamese women under the age of 35, in good health, to serve as surrogate mothers. In addition to Thuong, Wang also hired Thu to accompany the surrogate mothers to routine prenatal checkups and handle hospital admission and discharge procedures during childbirth at Vietnamese hospitals. The surrogate mothers were taken to China or Cambodia for embryo implantation and then brought back to Vietnam for pregnancy care and delivery. The newborns were separated from their mothers immediately after birth and handed over to nannies, who cared for them in high-end apartment complexes to avoid detection by authorities.
Illustration photo. Source: DragonImages (Canva)
Wang paid Thuong a monthly salary of $1,000 and Thu $500, while nannies received between 17 to 20 million VND per month. Surrogate mothers only received 30–40% of the amount paid by the clients, with the remainder going to the criminal network. All expenses related to the surrogate mothers and personnel in Vietnam were transferred via intermediary bank accounts.
According to the Life & Law Newspaper, the investigation team determined that 11 Vietnamese women had been surrogate mothers for this ring. Due to financial hardship, many of them later continued working as nannies for other newborns, earning between 570,000 to 750,000 VND per day. The subjects rented high-end apartments with strict security controls and frequently changed their residences to avoid detection. On July 15, alongside summoning the suspects, authorities successfully rescued 11 infants aged between 9 days and just over 3 months. The babies were taken to Peace House Shelter, part of the Center for Women and Development under the Vietnam Women’s Union. The Criminal Police Department has requested cooperation from the Department of Maternal Health and Children and the Vietnam Children's Fund to care for the rescued infants during the ongoing investigation.
VTV Times commented that this surrogacy ring operated with a distinctly different structure compared to previous cases: each member was assigned to a specific task and had limited knowledge of others involved, minimizing the risk of exposure.
Currently, the authorities have prosecuted Quach Thi Thuong; Pham Thi Hoai Thu and 5 others for the crime of "Organizing surrogacy for commercial purposes". The investigation agency is continuing to expand the case, hunting for Wang and his accomplices.
Trang Thanh