Selling 10 fellow countrymen to Chinese boss, man in Con Cuong district gets 24 years in prison
(Baonghean.vn) - On March 12, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Le Bao Tin (born in 1994, residing in Con Cuong town, Con Cuong district) for the crimes of Human trafficking and Human trafficking under 16 years old.
According to the indictment, in early July 2022, Tin and a friend went to Laos to participate in a social media fraud mission for a Chinese-owned company.
During his work, Tin knew that if he could bring Vietnamese people to work in Laos, the Chinese boss would pay him 35 million VND/person, so he contacted his hometown and convinced many people. To lure the victims, Tin gave information that he would go to Laos to “work online” with a salary of 17 million VND/month.
From late September to early October 2022, 10 victims believed Tin's enticement and agreed to go to Laos to work. When they arrived in Laos, this group of workers were forced by their Chinese boss to sign a contract to carry out a fraudulent task. Specifically, these people had to trick the victims into investing in Bitcoin to appropriate their assets. If they did not do so, they had to ask their families to send 35 million VND as ransom.
Tin was assigned by his Chinese boss to manage the group of people he brought over. The boss assigned Tin's group a target of swindling 1 billion VND/month. Due to being forced to work and being constantly monitored and supervised, some people could not stand it and tried to escape back to Vietnam. Some called their families to send ransom money.
Upon returning to Vietnam, the victims filed a complaint against Tin's actions with the police. On March 28, 2023, Le Bao Tin was arrested.
Authorities clarified that Tin had received 175 million VND from his Chinese boss to cover the cost of sending people to Laos. After two trips of sending people out of the country, Le Bao Tin received 89 million VND, including the remaining costs and the money Tin had “blocked” from part of the victims’ salaries.
Among the 10 victims, some were just over 15 years old at the time they were sold to Laos. Authorities concluded that Le Bao Tin's actions constituted the crimes of Human Trafficking and Trafficking of persons under 16 years old.
Considering the case as a whole, the first instance trial panel sentenced Le Bao Tin to 12 years in prison for human trafficking and 12 years in prison for human trafficking under 16 years of age. Combined, the defendant Tin must serve a sentence of 24 years in prison.
