16 years in prison for the leader of a fake police ring that swindled billions over the phone

After 2 days, September 4 and October 8, defendant Nguyen Van Phi (30 years old), residing in Bao Dai commune, Luc Nam district (Bac Giang) was brought to trial for the crime ofFraudulent appropriation of propertyOn the morning of October 13, Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced defendant Phi.
The case file shows that because of his wife's relationship with Pham Dinh Luan (27 years old), residing in My Huong commune, Luong Tai district (Bac Ninh), Nguyen Van Phi called Luan to ask him to find someone to open bank accounts and pay 3 million VND per card.

Luan also contacted and together with Nguyen Huu Thu (29 years old), Pham Dinh Phi (21 years old), Pham Cong Phuong (21 years old), who lived in the same commune as Luan, opened 15 ATM cards of various banks. Then Luan sent the cards to Taiwan for Nguyen Van Phi and received the money back. Phi used these accounts toCheat.
From Taiwan, Nguyen Van Phi called Luan, Thu, and Dinh Phi to agree to withdraw cash when the victims' money was transferred to their accounts. Nguyen Van Phi took out 15% to 20% of the embezzled money to divide among Luan, Thu, and Dinh Phi.

Defendant Nguyen Van Phi was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Photo: Tran Vu

Within 8 days from August 21, 2017 to August 29, 2017, by impersonating a telecommunications employee to notify of unpaid bills and transfer the case to the police for investigation, Luan successfully defrauded many victims.

Phi's method of fraud is to use phone numbers ending in 113, claiming to be police officers investigating cases.money laundering, drug trafficking, child trafficking, in which money in the victims' bank accounts is suspected to be involved.

The subjects asked the victims to secretly transfer money to serve the investigation. Fearing, 4 people in Nghe An and 1 person in Nha Trang City (Khanh Hoa) transferred money toaccountfor subjects over 3.3 billion VND.

In November 2018, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought the three defendants to trial and sentenced Pham Dinh Luan to 15 years in prison, Nguyen Huu Thu to 14 years in prison, and Pham Dinh Phi to 8 years in prison. Later, Luan and Thu appealed for a reduction in their sentences, and each defendant received a 2-year reduction in their sentences. When the defendants were arrested and sentenced to prison, Nguyen Van Phi was still abroad. In early March 2020, Nguyen Van Phi was arrested by the police.
At the trial of Nguyen Van Phi on September 4, 2020, because the defendant did not admit to the crime, the court decided to temporarily adjourn to extract prisoner Pham Dinh Luan to testify.

At the trial held on October 8, although Phi did not admit his guilt, based on the documents and evidence available, the Trial Panel concluded that Nguyen Van Phi committed the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

This is an organized crime case, with sophisticated methods, using high-tech tricks, and deceitful threats to make the victim afraid and transfer money. The defendant's actions are dangerous to society, causing panic among the people. In this case, defendant Nguyen Van Phi is the mastermind, carrying out the fraudulent acts.
Considering the case as a whole, the court sentenced Nguyen Van Phi to 16 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property".