Mystery in the suitcase containing '15 billion inheritance money'

The Secret of the Suitcase

Nghe An Provincial People's Court has just opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy (born 1976), residing in Tang Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of propertyThuy was accused of defrauding many victims, appropriating nearly 5.5 billion VND.

Nguyen Thi Thuy and the victim, Mrs. Bui Thi Hien (residing in Nhan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) knew each other. Knowing that Mrs. Hien was a person interested in spirituality and worked as a shaman, Thuy came up with the idea of ​​​​fraud.

Thuy told Ms. Hien that she had been left a huge fortune by a couple in Ho Chi Minh City, including 189 billion VND, 5 luxury cars, 15 high-end motorbikes, 30 expensive phones and 15 taels of gold. The couple had now passed away, so a relative in the US would take care of the inheritance procedures for Thuy. However, the procedure was having problems, so she needed money to resolve it.

If Ms. Hien gives Thuy money to quickly resolve this inheritance, Thuy will divide 79 billion VND and many other assets from the inheritance. Being a person who believes in spirituality and has economic conditions, Ms. Hien has given Thuy many times with a total amount of 742 million VND.

Nguyen Thi Thuy was sentenced to 19 years in prison for fraud. Photo: Tran Vu

Then, knowing that Ms. Hien's younger brother was rich and also a spiritual believer, Thuy continued to target this "prey". With the same scenario of needing to receive inheritance and promising to give him 57 billion VND, along with a luxury car and a high-end motorbike, Thuy convinced this man to give her money.

During this time, to further strengthen the trust of Mrs. Hien and her sisters, Thuy brought and left a suitcase at Mrs. Hien's house and said: "In here is 15 billion, part of the inheritance that Thuy received. However, it cannot be opened yet because it must be worshiped by the gods." Mrs. Hien immediately told this to her younger brother, making him believe even more in the story of Thuy's inheritance.

During the scam, Thuy repeatedly told the victims that “meeting me was fate. If you transfer money, you will receive a large portion of the inheritance later.” Trusting Thuy completely, Ms. Hien’s younger brother gave Thuy money many times. When he ran out of cash, he even “mobilized” money from many brothers, friends, and colleagues.

The drama of the "super swindler" Nguyen Thi Thuy only came to an end when one of the people who lent money to Ms. Hien's younger brother became suspicious and reported it to the police. The investigation agency determined that within more than 1 year, from the beginning of 2019 to mid-2021, Ms. Bui Thi Hien gave Thuy 742 million VND, and her younger brother gave nearly 4.9 billion VND. The total amount of more than 5.5 billion VND that Nguyen Thi Thuy swindled from Ms. Hien's sisters, this woman paid off the debt and spent it all.

During the search of Thuy’s house, the police seized many documents showing Thuy’s loans and debts, as well as a suitcase that was advertised as “containing 15 billion VND of inheritance”. However, the suitcase contained only old clothes and scrap paper.

Crocodile tears

At the trial, the defendant admitted to defrauding the victims as charged in the indictment. Thuy said that because she was in debt and needed money to spend, she came up with the above scenario to defraud many people. The defendant had paid off her debts and spent all the money she had appropriated. However, Thuy did not elaborate on those expenses. Throughout the trial, the female defendant cried and sobbed continuously.

Faced with the victims' inexplicable trust in the defendant, a jury asked the victims: "People often say 'the only free cheese is in a mousetrap', 'there is no such thing as a free meal', why did the victims spend such a large sum of money, even billions of dong, without any binding or written documents with Thuy... Is there any hidden reason or other deep reason in this case?". Faced with that question, the victims said that because they trusted Thuy and believed in the inheritance, they transferred money to the defendant many times.

The victims said that because they trusted Thuy, they transferred money to this defendant many times.

It is known that when the incident was discovered, the two victims asked Nguyen Thi Thuy to compensate for the entire amount of money she had appropriated, but then asked for the two parties to resolve it themselves. At the trial, Ms. Bui Thi Hien and Mr. Bui Huy Hieu said that before the trial took place, defendant Thuy's family had paid the full amount of more than 5.5 billion VND. The victims asked the court to consider reducing the defendant's sentence.

The representative of the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province participating in the debate at the trial stated: In this case, the defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy committed a particularly serious crime. The defendant did not work or do business honestly but instead committed fraud against many people. The defendant committed the crime many times, so she needs to be severely punished.

After the trial, the panel of judges determined that the defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy's actions were dangerous to society, defrauding others of a large amount of money, so it was necessary to deal with it severely for general deterrence and prevention. The court sentenced defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy to 19 years in prison for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property.

The court ended, the defendant was still sobbing. But with such a detailed plan, defrauding many people, many times with such a large amount of money, were the defendant's tears in court truly remorseful or just "crocodile tears"...