Couple swindled hundreds of millions by running jobs and studying abroad

Morning of May 10,The Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial to try defendants Ho Thi Thu Ha (born 1988), residing in Nam Dan town, Nam Dan district, and Nguyen Song Thao (born 1982), residing in Phu Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for the crime of "Fraud and appropriation of property".

According to investigation documents, between 2015 and 2017, in order to have money for personal expenses, Ha defrauded and appropriated a total of 617 million VND from victims.

Specifically, in November 2015, Ha met Ms. Vo Thi S. (born 1971), residing in Nam Dan town, when this woman came to visit Ha's sick father-in-law.

Here, Ha said she was able to find a job. Knowing this, Mrs. S. asked Ha to find a job for her daughter. Ha agreed to "help" Mrs. S.'s daughter join the army for a fee of 265 million VND.

The defendants at trial.

Trusting, on December 29, 2015, Ms. S. brought 60 million VND to meet Ha to ask for "job help". Here, Ha wrote a receipt and promised to return the money if she could not "get the job done". To strengthen her trust, Ha then compiled the content herself by typing, getting signatures from the Internet, and photocopying the Decision on female soldiers joining the army after going to school of the Military Region 4 Command regarding sending Ms. S's daughter to school.

Some time later, Ha continued to "orient" Mrs. S. about sending her daughter to study abroad in Australia with the reason: "Register from both sides, whichever side you choose will go there. The total cost to go to Australia is 500 million VND, deposit 60 million VND in advance." Hearing this reasonable, Mrs. S. gave Ha 66 million VND to help her daughter study abroad.

After spending all the victim's deposit, Ha advised Mrs. S. to send her child to study in Australia for free, with a full scholarship worth 250 million VND. As if caught in the "job running" cycle, Mrs. S. trusted him and transferred money many times, totaling 210 million VND.

Ha also scammed Ms. S. to get her son to work at Petrolimex Petroleum Company for 120 million VND, with a deposit of 10 million VND. Trusting her, Ms. S. repeatedly gave Ha a total of 55 million VND. Like the previous times, after failing to "get a job" for the victim, Ha "steered" Ms. S. to send her son to work abroad. The victim agreed and transferred 263 million VND to Ha.

Not stopping there, Ha also colluded with Nguyen Song Thao, helping this man defraud Mr. Hoang Van Nam (Mrs. S's husband) of 242 million VND by pretending to work in Australia. In this deal, Ha pocketed 44 million VND.

In addition, Ha also tricked Ms. Van Thi Th. (born in 1964), also residing in Nam Dan town, into sending her daughter to study abroad in Australia. Trusting her, Ms. Th. gave Ha a total of 60 million VND.

In court, the two defendants confessed honestly, showing remorse and repentance. Defendant Ha admitted that he had no ability to “run errands” and did not know anyone, but because of greed, he thought of a way to defraud.

Like his accomplices, defendant Thao confessed and admitted to the fraud. Regarding the reason for committing the fraud, the defendant stated that after establishing a company specializing in job and study abroad referrals, the business suffered losses. Unable to pay, he colluded with Ha to commit the fraud.

The panel of judges determined that the defendants' actions were dangerous to society, because of greed they had defrauded and appropriated other people's property, so they sentenced Ho Thi Thu Ha to 12 years in prison and Nguyen Song Thao to 6 years in prison for the crime of "Fraud and appropriation of property".

In November 2017, Nguyen Song Thao was sentenced by the People's Court of Da Nang City to 10 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property", so the defendant was forced to serve a total sentence of 16 years in prison.