Beware of fraudulent behavior of 'fixing sentences' and appropriating property

Many tricks to cheat

On March 18, 2022, Dien Chau District Police said that the unit had issued a decision to prosecute Hoang Ngoc Hanh, born in 1996, residing in Dien Hong Commune, Dien Chau District, for fraud and property appropriation.

According to initial investigation results,Although she has a bad background and no stable job, Hanh still promises to know some people who can handle the job.run the case"hanging" to defraud and appropriate 450 million VND. Specifically,On May 28, 2021, Ms. NTX, born in 1979, residing in Quynh Chau commune (Quynh Luu) was sentenced to 9 months in prison by the People's Court of Quynh Luu district for gambling. However, Ms. X. wanted her sentence reduced, so she filed an appeal to the People's Court of Nghe An province.

Dien Chau District Police officers take statement from suspect Hoang Ngoc Hanh. Photo: Hong Ngoc

While awaiting the appeal trial, through her friends, Ms. X. contacted Hanh to ask for help in "fixing the case". The subject instructed Ms. X. to file a request for a temporary postponement of the trial and promised to know some people who could handle the "fixing of the suspended sentence", and promised to return the money if it could not be done. On October 22, 2021, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened an appeal trial and tried Ms. X. in absentia, with the same sentence as the first instance verdict. That evening, Hanh called Ms. X. to inform her that the "fixing of the case" had been completed and that she was sentenced to prison but with a suspended sentence.

Documents written by Hoang Ngoc Hanh to gain trust from Ms. X. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Because of trust, Ms. X. transferred 450 million VND to Hanh. However, the subject used the above amount for personal expenses. On November 19, 2021, Ms. X. received a notice about the execution of the prison sentence and realized that she had been scammed. After that, Ms. X. contacted Hoang Ngoc Hanh many times to request the return of the money, but the subject cut off contact and fled to the southern provinces (from November 2021). On March 15, 2022, when the subject returned to the locality, he was arrested by the police.

Also in March 2022, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Provincial Police issued an order to temporarily detain Nguyen Thi Lien (born in 1973), residing in Do Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, to investigate and clarify the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property"..Previously, through the work of grasping the situation, the Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police discovered that Lien often searched for information on media channels about cases that were cleared by the police force or land disputes, and filed civil lawsuits to approach the victims.

Nguyen Thi Lien at the police station. Photo: Hong Ngoc.

After approaching the victim, Lien introduced herself as knowing many officials with positions in the field of litigation and the Court sector, who were able to "fix the case" for defendants to be released on bail or receive suspended sentences, helping them win lawsuits in civil cases. Along with the agreement, the victims had to pay hundreds of millions of VND. With the above trick, at the end of September 2021, Lien approached and tricked Vo Thi N. (born in 1993), residing in Yen Thanh district, who was sentenced to 5 years in prison by the Yen Thanh District People's Court for the crime of Illegal possession of narcotics (currently on bail awaiting execution of sentence because she is raising a young child), and at the same time promised to help N. reduce the sentence from 5 years in prison to 2 years in prison, thereby appropriating N.'s property in the amount of 300 million VND.

However, in February 2022, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought Vo Thi N.'s case to an appeal trial and upheld the 5-year sentence for N. Knowing that she could not perform the work as originally promised to the victim, Lien fled.

To gain the trust of the victims, many subjects also impersonate police officers, knowing many people so they can easily influence law enforcement agencies to "reduce their sentences". A typical example is Nguyen Van Huan (born in 1982), residing in Nam Hung commune, Nam Dan district, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison for fraud by the People's Court of Nghe An province in July 2021.

The indictment stated: Around November 2020, through social relationships, Huan learned that Ms. Tran Thi K. (residing in Dien Chau district) was intending to ask for her husband, who was a defendant in the case of "Illegal transportation of goods across the border" and "Transportation of prohibited goods", not to be prosecuted.

Defendant Nguyen Van Huan. Photo: Tran Vu

After talking on the phone, Huan arranged to meet Ms. K. at a coffee shop in Vinh City. When meeting Ms. K., Huan impersonated Huy, an officer of the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police, and promised to take care of her husband's case. Before leaving, Huan told Ms. K. to prepare money to take care of the "case-fixing" procedures. From November 2020 to the end of December 2020 (lunar calendar), Huan asked Ms. K. 6 times to give him 260 million VND. After waiting for a while, seeing that Huan could not take care of the case as promised, Ms. K. asked for the money back. At first, Huan only paid Ms. K. 70 million VND. After being pressured many times, Huan went to Ms. K.'s house to pay 190 million VND, but asked for 20 million VND for travel expenses and was agreed by Ms. K.'s relatives.

On February 22, 2021, Ms. K. filed a complaint against Nguyen Van Huan for fraud to the investigation agency. During the process of working with the Nghe An Provincial Police Department, Huan confessed to his crime and voluntarily handed over 10 million VND.

Similar to Huan's behavior, at 7:30 a.m. on May 14, 2020, at a coffee shop on Quang Trung Street, Vinh City Police caught Nguyen Kien Trung, born in 1985, residing in Block 7, Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City, receiving money from Ms. Hoang Thi G. (born in 1993), residing in Dien Chau District to take care of the case for her relative. The seized evidence included 25 million VND, 1 phone and 1 car. This subject has no stable job, previously worked as a border guard officer in Ha Tinh, but was discharged from the army due to debt.

Subject Nguyen Kien Trung at the investigation agency. Photo: Duc Vu

To deceive the victims, Trung often bragged, claiming to be a police officer, knowing many people so he could easily influence law enforcement agencies to "reduce his sentence". Knowing that Ms. G had a brother who was being prosecuted and detained by Vinh City Police for illegal possession of drugs, in order to appropriate Ms. G's money, Trung promised to arrange for Ms. G's brother to be released on bail and have his sentence reduced when brought to trial. Because of trust after many meetings, Ms. G transferred money directly and through Trung's bank account many times, totaling 229 million VND. However, in early May 2020, seeing that her brother had not yet been released on bail, Ms. G filed a complaint with Vinh City Police.

After verifying the information, Vinh City Police established a special project and concentrated forces to quickly arrest the subject, avoiding affecting the reputation and image of the People's Public Security force.

How is the act of "running a case" handled??

Ignoring the provisions of the law to commit fraud and receive money under the pretext of “fixing a case” is a violation of the law and will be strictly punished. Depending on the nature and purpose of the act, the offender will be held criminally responsible according to the provisions of the law.

If the person who commits the crime of fraud does not have a position or authority, he or she may be prosecuted for the crime of property fraud under Article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2017. Because in reality, this person does not have a position or authority, cannot intervene and change the crime, penalty, etc. in favor of the offender, but still receives money in order to appropriate other people's property. The highest penalty in this case can be life imprisonment. In addition, the offender may be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or have part or all of his or her property confiscated.

Evidence of a case. Photo: Duc Vu

Photo illustration internet.

However, not only the person who runs the case will be held criminally responsible, but the person who gives money to run the case can also be imprisoned. Therefore, every citizen needs to raise their legal awareness, avoid "losing money, getting sick", and falling into acts of assisting criminals.