Warning about land sale scams.

Many sophisticated tricks

Recently, authorities have discovered, investigated, and prosecuted many cases of fraud and embezzlement of property in the land sector using sophisticated methods.

For example, in October 2023, the Nghi Loc District Police issued a decision to initiate a criminal case and prosecute Le Thanh Hung, residing in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district, for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.

According to the investigation results, Le Thanh Hung claimed to be able to handle "all-inclusive" land-related procedures such as: preparing documents for changing land use purposes, changing information on land use right certificates, and preparing documents for land subdivision and issuance of land use right certificates. To gain the victims' trust, after receiving money, Hung would order fake land use right certificates, house ownership certificates, and other property ownership certificates online and then give them to the victims.

Initially, the Nghi Loc District Police determined that between the end of October 2022 and June 2023, Le Thanh Hung defrauded and misappropriated property from 6 victims totaling over 2.7 billion VND.

Previously, on April 5, 2023, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Provincial Police temporarily detained Le Thi Thanh Xuan (born in 1970), residing in Boi Son commune, Do Luong district, to investigate her alleged fraudulent appropriation of property through real estate investment fundraising.

Accordingly, Xuan searched for people who wanted to sell land in Vinh City, Do Luong District, and surrounding areas. After obtaining information about the land sellers and land plot diagrams, Xuan spread false information such as: a planned road was about to be built, roads were being widened, and the land was near newly established urban areas... in order to entice wealthy acquaintances to invest in buying the land.

Xuan used all the money contributed by the victims for personal purposes. Initially, the investigating agency determined that Xuan had defrauded four victims of a total of more than 6 billion VND.

Similarly, on March 28, 2023, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court held a first-instance criminal trial to prosecute defendant Thai Thi Phuong Anh, residing in Hung Dong commune, Vinh City, for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property." Due to participating in a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) that led to debt, Phuong Anh conceived the idea of ​​defrauding Ms. Tran Thi Th., residing in Le Mao ward, Vinh City, by inviting her to contribute money to buy land to resell for profit.

Knowing that some areas in Hung Dong commune had attractive plots of land, Anh randomly selected some plots (without knowing who the owners were), then lied to Ms. Th., claiming that the landowners were selling them cheaply, and that buying them for investment and resale would yield a profit. He also boasted that the land investment was facilitated by the Chairman of Hung Dong commune, Mr. Tran AT. To gain the victim's trust, Anh bought a phone SIM card, created a Zalo account named "Tan Tran," downloaded profile pictures from this person's real account, and installed them on the fake account.

Using a fake account, Anh messaged Ms. Th. with content such as "invest in land with Phuong Anh with peace of mind," "I will be there to help if anything happens," and "because it's a sensitive issue and might affect your work, we'll only communicate via Zalo"...

Between September 6th and October 6th, 2021, Thai Thi Phuong Anh provided information about contributing money to buy 6 plots of land in Vinh City, defrauding Ms. Th. of nearly 1.2 billion VND. It is known that recently, law enforcement agencies have received many complaints from citizens about being scammed by individuals using the tactic of pooling capital to invest in buying and selling land, then defrauding and appropriating assets.

Notably, some of the fraudsters were former officials in state agencies, which led many people to trust them and invest their money.

A typical example is the case of Le Van Binh (born in 1970), former Head of the Urban Order Management Team of Cua Lo town (former Chairman of Nghi Hoa Ward People's Committee from 2005 to 2009; former Party Secretary and Chairman of Nghi Hoa Ward People's Committee from 2009 to 2015). Binh confessed that he started participating in land buying and selling activities in 2017. Due to involvement with many people and numerous transactions, he was unable to control the money, leading to losses. Therefore, he devised a scheme using his position as Head of the Urban Order Management Team of Cua Lo town to solicit and persuade people to jointly invest in land in various locations in Cua Lo town, Nghi Loc district, and Vinh city, amounting to tens of billions of VND, and then defrauding them of their assets.

The money from later investors was used by Binh to pay those who had invested earlier. Using this method, from January to April 2021, Le Van Binh solicited and received investment funds, defrauding four victims in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces of a total of nearly 29 billion VND. In November 2022, Binh was prosecuted for fraud and appropriation of property.

Similarly, in October 2022, the Investigation Police Department of Nghe An province initiated legal proceedings and issued an arrest warrant for Tran Van Giang, a former land administration official of Hung Dung ward, Vinh city, on charges of fraud and appropriation of property.

Accordingly, taking advantage of the land "fever" in the area, under the guise of a master's degree holder and land administration officer with expertise in land matters, Giang proactively approached acquaintances (mostly people with good economic conditions, large amounts of idle money, or civil servants) and boasted that he was a land administration officer with information about land plots that the landowners wanted to buy and sell, then persuaded the victims to give Giang money for "investment".

After receiving the money, Giang used it to pay off debts and for personal expenses. At the time of Tran Van Giang's arrest, the police had proven that he had embezzled over 3 billion VND from the victims, and were continuing to investigate his fraudulent activities involving 8 other victims who had filed complaints, totaling approximately 25 billion VND.

It is worth noting that the investigation and verification process faced many difficulties because some victims were officials and civil servants working in state agencies, so they were hesitant to report or provided incomplete information.

Maintain vigilance.

According to authorities, land fraudsters currently employ several tactics such as selling land on paper, misappropriating deposits, selling the same property to multiple people; impersonating developers or reputable individuals to fraudulently sell land; defrauding people into investing in land purchases; fraudulently subdividing land plots; and falsely claiming the ability to obtain land use rights certificates and then misappropriating the money. Many fraudsters also take advantage of the land speculation phenomenon to print and forge land ownership certificates and then use them for fraudulent purposes.

Regarding this issue, the Vinh City Branch of the Land Registration Office (Nghe An Province Land Registration Office) has previously issued warnings about the continuous occurrence of forged land use right certificates and house ownership certificates used to carry out real estate transactions aimed at misappropriating assets.

Authorities advise citizens to carefully verify the legal status of real estate projects and land plots before conducting any purchase or deposit transactions; thoroughly check contracts before signing, and avoid trusting advertisements or enticements from individuals without verifying the information with relevant authorities. In particular, if any irregularities are detected in land transactions or if there are suspicions of forged land titles or other documents, citizens should report them to the authorities for appropriate action.

Furthermore, many believe that the lack of timely and complete public disclosure of land-related information is one of the "loopholes" that allows individuals to exploit the system by using fake land titles, creating fictitious projects, or spreading false information to commit fraud. Therefore, to limit cases of people being deceived through land transactions, authorities need to review and advise higher authorities on addressing shortcomings and deficiencies in the field of land planning, management, and use. Governments at all levels need to improve the effectiveness of state management in land planning, management, and use, and construction permits; and widely disseminate information about approved projects in the locality so that people can access official sources of information.

In Nghe An province, implementing Directive No. 21/CT-TTg dated May 25, 2020, of the Prime Minister on strengthening the prevention and handling of fraud and property appropriation, including fraud and property appropriation in the land sector, the Provincial People's Committee has directed departments, agencies, and localities to promote the application of information technology, review, simplify, and shorten the time for resolving administrative procedures. Focus is placed on improving the efficiency of the Public Administrative Service Center, ensuring transparency in the resolution of administrative procedures, and preventing unscrupulous individuals from exploiting "brokerage" activities to defraud and appropriate people's property. Simultaneously, state management is being strengthened in areas prone to or with loopholes that criminals can exploit to commit fraud and property appropriation, such as the land sector.