Five years in prison for fraudster who stole property.

On the morning of November 30, 2022, the People's Court of Tan Ky District tried the criminal case against Le Thanh Liem (born in 2000), residing in Quan Nha village, Tien Hai commune, Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province, for the crime of "Fraud and appropriation of property".

Since mid-2020, Le Thanh Liem has regularly accessed the internet to earn money online by running Facebook ads. Le Thanh Liem searched for and purchased ads on various websites and forums.Facebook account, Facebook Business Manager (BM) accounts, and posting information about renting other people's bank accounts to run ads.

In early December 2021, Le Thanh Liem purchased a Facebook account named "Anh Pham" for 30,000 VND on a website. On December 16, 2021, Bui Van Hoa (born in 2001), residing in Do Tan village, Bac Son commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi, saw an advertisement on Facebook for renting bank accounts from the account "Anh Pham," so he used his own Facebook account, "Bui Van Hoa," to message the "Anh Pham" account.

Defendant Le Thanh Liem at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao

Le Thanh Liem replied to a Facebook message from an account named "Anh Pham" saying he needed to rent accounts to run ads. Bui Van Hoa agreed to rent two accounts, both under the name BUI VAN HOA, for 250,000 VND per account per month. After Bui Van Hoa provided the login name, password, and OTP code, Le Thanh Liem registered for Smart OTP on his phone (at this time, Le Thanh Liem was using a Vsmart Joy 3 and a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro).

Because the Facebook account "Anh Pham" belonged to a large, reputable group with many likes and followers, and frequently posted articles about currency exchange services, payment intermediaries, and finding people to complete KYC verification, Le Thanh Liem conceived the idea of ​​using the "Anh Pham" Facebook account to continue posting many false advertisements for currency exchange services. When someone needed to exchange currency contacted him, Liem would provide a rented account number to transfer the money, then block communication to embezzle the entire amount.

On January 23, 2022, Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang (residing in Doi Che hamlet, Giai Xuan commune, Tan Ky district) needed to exchange Vietnamese Dong for US Dollars, so he used his Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" to access the "Vietnam Paypal Community" group to find someone offering currency exchange services.

Sang saw that the account "Anh Pham" was a reputable account posting advertisements for foreign currency exchange services, so he messaged this account. Le Thanh Liem messaged Sang, claiming to have US dollars to exchange, so the two agreed on an exchange rate of 224,000,000 VND for 10,000 USD. Liem gave Sang the Vietcombank account number 1024.602.925 under the name BUI VAN HOA and said he would transfer 10,000 USD to Sang. However, after Sang transferred the money to Le Thanh Liem, Liem blocked the Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" and deleted the "Anh Pham" account to embezzle the money, which he then used to buy Business Manager accounts, purchase VIA accounts for Facebook advertising, and for personal expenses.

On September 28, 2022, after numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact the Facebook account "Anh Pham," Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang reported the matter to the Tan Ky District Police. On October 7, 2022, Le Thanh Liem learned that the Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" in Tan Ky District, Nghe An Province, had reported the matter to the police. Liem then surrendered to the Tan Ky District Police, Nghe An Province, confessing to all his crimes. Le Thanh Liem's ​​confession is consistent with the collected documents and evidence.

During the investigation, the investigating agency had sufficient grounds to conclude that Le Thanh Liem had embezzled 224,000,000 VND.((by Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang).

The suspect, Le Thanh Liem, voluntarily surrendered, made honest confessions during the investigation, showed remorse, and influenced his family to fully compensate Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang for the damages. Mr. Sang also submitted a request for leniency for the suspect.

Le Thanh Liem has compensated Che Quang Duy Sang with the sum of 224,000,000 VND for damages.,Mr. Sang has no further requests.

Regarding Mr. Bui Van Hoa, who lent his bank account to Le Thanh Liem, the investigation determined that Mr. Hoa's purpose in lending the account to Liem was for running advertisements. Mr. Hoa was unaware that Liem was using the account to commit crimes; therefore, Mr. Bui Van Hoa is not guilty.

At the end of the trial, the panel of judges sentenced Le Thanh Liem to 5 years in prison.