Degenerate doctor, job scammer

On August 15, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of two defendants, Tran Anh Tuan (born 1984), residing in Xuan Hai commune, Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh) and Tran Van Quan (born 1987), residing in Truong Thi ward, Vinh city, for the crime of“Fraudulent appropriation of property”.

Tuan is a doctor, working at the Nghe An Vaccination Center, while Quan does not have a stable job. Although both of them do not have the function or responsibility in arranging jobs, they discussed and agreed to receive money from workers applying for jobs, recruiting them to work, and studying at agencies, units, and organizations such as Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company, Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 108 Military Hospital, Nghe An Tax Department, etc.

Defendants Tran Anh Tuan (right) and Tran Van Quan in court. Photo: Tran Vu

The two discussed and agreed that Quan would be responsible for finding and receiving money from the workers, while Tuan would hire someone to make fake employee cards, name stamps for Quan, labor contracts, labor contract appendices, fake interview evaluation tables, etc. for Quan to use. The fake labor contracts were then forwarded by Quan to the victims.

During the period from December 2018 to March 2021, in order to gain the trust of the victims, when approaching Quan, he introduced himself as working in the human resources department of Vietnam Vaccine Joint Stock Company and was assigned to recruit workers, having a close relationship with the company's leaders. Quan promised to definitely recruit those who wanted to work at the company but had to pay money for recruitment costs.

Quan also introduced himself as knowing many leaders of other agencies, departments and sectors who could help workers find jobs and apply to study at universities.

The investigation agency determined that Quan and Tuan together committed 18 acts of fraud to obtain jobs and admission to universities for 51 workers and students, appropriating more than 3.67 billion VND. Of which, Quan appropriated more than 2.2 billion VND, Tuan appropriated nearly 1.4 billion VND.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to their crimes. Both stated that they had no function or responsibility to arrange jobs but had received money from many people to appropriate and spend for personal use.

The panel of judges determined that the actions of the two defendants were particularly dangerous to society, defrauding and appropriating money from many victims. Considering the role of each defendant, the court sentenced Tran Van Quan to 16 years in prison and Tran Van Tuan to 10 years in prison.