360 hours of searching for the 'super swindler' 9x

From the petitions

In mid-April 2017, the Nghe An Provincial Police Investigation Agency received a series of complaints from companies and individuals renting self-driving cars in the city and neighboring districts with the same content: There was a subject in the area who came to rent a self-driving car, but after the contract period, he did not return the car, and the phone number could not be contacted.

As the Director of Henry Son Trading and Tourism Company (located in Vinh City), Mr. Tran Van S. (residing in Hung Dung Ward, Vinh City) clearly remembers that on November 15, 2016, there was a young man who introduced himself as a construction contractor and needed to rent a self-driving car to go to a construction site.

With a neat appearance and "generous" spending, Mr. S's company agreed to sign a contract to rent a silver Toyota Fortuner car, license plate 37A-175.64, for 1 month for 28 million VND along with a copy of the car registration and inspection certificate. After completing the car rental procedure, the customer had to deposit 10 million VND, however, this customer deposited 15 million VND along with a copy of his ID card.

After the 1-month deadline, when the customer did not return the car, Mr. S. thought that the customer had forgotten the schedule so he called to remind him, but the customer replied that he was in the middle of a construction project and would return it later. After many calls and promises, Mr. S. trusted him and let the customer use the car. Unexpectedly, after 3 months of waiting, the car was nowhere to be seen and the customer could not be contacted. At this time, Mr. S. and his staff were shocked to check the car's location and found that the car had also been disconnected. Suspecting that the subject had tricked him into losing his car, Mr. S. immediately filed a report with the authorities.

At the same time, investigators also received a complaint from Mr. Nguyen TH, Director of JVT Investment and Trade Company Limited (located on Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Street, Vinh City). The above complaint also had similar content, in early December 2016, a man claiming to be named Tuan, a construction contractor, came to the company to rent a self-driving car. Here, Tuan met Ms. Nguyen Thi K., an employee of JVT Company. After introducing himself as a construction contractor who needed to rent a self-driving car to go to work, and being informed by the employee, Mr. TH signed a contract for Mr. Tuan to rent a white KIA K3 car, license plate 37A-242.93 for 1 month, at a price of 800,000 VND/day. When delivering the car, Mr. TH also handed over a notarized copy of the car registration and inspection certificate. The man named Tuan only needed to deposit 20 million VND and his identity papers.

But just like Mr. S., when the car rental period ended, Mr. TH did not see the customer return the car. He asked the staff to call and check and found that the phone number Tuan left behind was no longer available, and the car's location was also disconnected. He had to file a complaint with the Nghe An Provincial Police Department.

More than 360 hours searching for the "super scammer"

From the received applications, the investigators searched for a man named Tuan who claimed to be a construction contractor. Through information verification, they discovered that a subject named Tran Anh Tuan (born in 1995), residing in Hamlet 3, Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City, was the suspect in the above incidents. However, at the time of verification and clarification of information, the detectives discovered that Tuan was not present in the locality.

Not only that, through some sources close to the subject, it is known that Tran Anh Tuan at the time of the incident was only 21 years old and had no stable job, not a construction contractor as the information Tuan provided to the car rental companies. Determining the purpose and motive of the subject was fraud, the detectives used professional measures to find Tuan.

To promptly arrest the suspect, the leaders of the Criminal Police Department decided to establish a special case and assigned investigators and detectives of Team 4 to investigate.

Despite his young age, Tuan was very clever in erasing traces of his movements. Tuan frequently moved and cut off contact with all his relatives to avoid being tracked by the authorities. In addition, Tuan almost never used a phone or bank account, which also made it more difficult for detectives to track Tuan.

After a period of searching for the subject, on May 11, 2017, detectives discovered the suspect, Tran Anh Tuan, shopping for personal belongings at Quang Trung market. Determining that after a period of hiding, knowing it would be difficult to escape the crime, he was looking for a way to escape, the Task Force immediately held a quick meeting and deployed a plan to arrest him. Through an on-site search, the Task Force seized a passport under the name Tran Anh Tuan and some personal belongings.

At the provincial police investigation agency, Tuan confessed that because he did not have a stable job and often borrowed money from friends and relatives to serve useless entertainment, he had to bear a huge debt. While he was short of money and the creditors constantly pressured him, demanding that Tuan pay, he came up with the idea of ​​renting a self-driving car, forging the car's papers and then pawning it to get money to pay off the debt and for personal expenses. According to Tuan's statement, from November 2016 to now, he has rented 5 self-driving cars and pawned them.

Tuan confessed that the first deal was a silver Toyota Fortuner with license plate 37A-175.64 owned by Mr. Tran Van S.'s company (Vinh City). After renting the car, Tuan immediately went online to find a stranger to fake the car registration in his name for 10 million VND. After agreeing, the stranger arranged for Tuan to meet in Binh Duong province to get the fake papers. After that, Tuan took the car, fake car registration in his name and ID card to a pawn shop in Dien Chau district to pawn for 450 million VND.

As for the last "fraud" that Tuan committed before being arrested, on February 11, 2017, Tuan went to Ha Hoang Nam Transport Company Limited (residing in Nghi Lien commune, Vinh city) to introduce himself as a construction contractor and needed to rent a self-driving car for work. Trusting Tuan, Mr. Tran Van H., the company director, signed a contract to rent a silver Toyota Fortuner car, license plate 37A-306.70, along with an inspection certificate, a compulsory insurance certificate and a certificate of keeping the original registration of the above car.

Receiving the car, not yet “warm in the seat”, Tuan drove the car along with all the related documents to pawn for 300 million VND. The total amount of assets that Tuan confessed to defrauding and appropriating was valued by the authorities at 3 billion VND. Tuan said he used this money to pay off debts and for personal expenses.

Based on Tuan's initial testimony, on May 17, 2017, the Nghe An Provincial Police Department initiated a case of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", prosecuted the accused and issued a 4-month detention order for Tran Anh Tuan to continue investigating and expanding the project.

13 years in prison for the 9x "super swindler"

The first instance trial of Tran Anh Tuan took place in mid-April 2018. As victims, representatives of companies and individuals renting self-driving cars were present early to attend the trial, all hoping to receive adequate compensation.

On Tuan’s side, his wife and children were present. When he saw his child, who was just over 1 year old, Tuan could only bow his head. It is known that after his parents separated, Tuan was cared for and raised by his grandparents since he was a child.

According to the indictment, from November 15, 2016 to February 11, 2017, Tuan used the trick of renting self-driving cars in Vinh City and Dien Chau, then pawned and appropriated 5 cars, with a total value of 3.52 billion VND, and then used the money to spend. Of these, 3 cars were pawned to Mr. Bui Dang Thang (residing in Dien Chau district) for a total of 850 million VND; 1 car was pawned to Nguyen Van Diep for 450 million VND and the remaining car was pawned to Ms. Tran Thi Chau for 450 million VND.

Tran Anh Tuan's main trick is to create a cover, become successful, and claim to be a construction contractor in need of a car for work. Tuan often goes to car rental shops and chooses to rent expensive cars for 800,000 - 1 million VND/day for 1 to 3 months. To make the car rental shop owners believe him, Tuan deposits 15-20 million VND. After renting a car, Tuan hires someone to forge car documents in the names of the above car owners for 10 million VND/set.

Not only did Tuan complete all the paperwork, he also generously transferred additional deposits to car rental companies, so they trusted him a lot. However, after renting the car, Tuan went online to ask someone to forge the documents and then pawn it to get money for spending.

At the trial, the shop owners all asked Tuan to compensate for the damage because they had no business vehicles during the time the vehicles were taken. Defendant Tran Anh Tuan confessed to all his actions. "Due to difficult family circumstances and my wife and I not having stable jobs, I took the risk," Tuan justified when asked by the panel of judges.

It is known that the physical evidence has been recovered and returned to the victims. Mr. Tran Van S. asked the defendant to compensate 140 million VND for business losses caused by the vehicle appropriation; Mr. Thang asked for 850 million VND; Ms. Chau and Mr. Diep also asked for compensation of 450 million VND each. When given the last word, Tuan also apologized to the victims and asked for their forgiveness. The defendant also wished to return soon to work to earn money to pay off the debts of the victims.

After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel sentenced defendant Tran Anh Tuan to 13 years in prison for fraud and property appropriation and ordered him to compensate the victims for the agreed amount.