Arresting 'female magician' who can turn money, gold... into scrap paper

After a few mumbles from the woman, Ms. Ngoc happily opened the package and only saw lottery tickets but no gold or bracelet.

On April 22, Tan Binh District Police decided to prosecute and urgently arrest Phan Thi Kim Anh (49 years old, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau) for the act of Fraudulent appropriation of property.

According to the investigation agency, Kim Anh claimed to be a “magician” to defraud and appropriate many people’s assets. Her method was to lure victims into giving them assets (mainly money, gold, etc.) to “cast a spell”, then find a way to appropriate them.

Recently, Ms. Ngoc (living in Tan Binh district) accidentally met Kim Anh at a restaurant in Tan Binh district. During the conversation, Kim Anh introduced herself as a “child of heaven” and then performed a fortune telling trick, making Ms. Ngoc believe her. Knowing that her “prey” had fallen into the trap, she told Ms. Phan to give her 9 million VND to “cast a spell” to try her luck.

After finishing the job, the “magician” wrapped the money in a paper bag and gave it to Ms. Ngoc to take home and do business. Coincidentally, Ms. Ngoc used the money to do business and unexpectedly hit it big. Believing that the luck was the “magician’s” work, the woman told some of her friends about it.

Phan Thi Kim Anh at the police station.

The next day, Ms. Ngoc continued to bring some bracelets and gold rings to Kim Anh to ask for “magic”. This “magician” wrapped the assets in a piece of paper, mumbled a few sentences and then gave it back to Ms. Ngoc. Ms. Ngoc happily opened the paper and was shocked to see that the jewelry had suddenly turned into lottery tickets. When she asked, she said: “Because you were not sincere, the assets turned into lottery tickets”.

Following the introduction, Ms. Lam (living in Tan Binh district) repeatedly gave “magician” Kim Anh more than 40 million VND and some jewelry to “cast a spell”. When Ms. Lam brought the above assets home and opened them, she discovered they were all scraps of paper. When she met Kim Anh to ask, she also received the answer: “Because you were not sincere…”.

Not only the two cases above, some other people because of gullibility were also scammed by the "magician" for a huge amount of money. Typically, Ms. Bao (43 years old) brought tens of millions of dong to her to ask for her "magic" but later also received similar consequences. Knowing that they were scammed, some victims reported Kim Anh's fraudulent behavior to the police.

At the investigation agency, Kim Anh confessed that she had been "served in prison" for robbing a couple of lovers in 1998 with her accomplices. While in prison, Kim Anh accidentally learned fortune telling from a female prisoner.

After being released from prison, she returned to her hometown to work as a farmer. Unable to bear the hard work, she went to Ho Chi Minh City to commit fraud. Every day, Kim Anh hung around coffee shops, restaurants, etc., seeing gullible people, she pretended to tell fortunes and lured them into "magically" using her fortune.

While performing the "spell", she took advantage of the situation and quickly exchanged the money and gold with scrap paper and lottery tickets and gave them to the victim.

* Victim's name has been changed.

According to Laborer