Online lending trick, embezzling 2.5 billion VND
Vo Minh Thanh, 28 years old, posted an advertisement for a loan on Facebook, tricking a woman into paying fees up to 2.5 billion VND multiple times and then appropriating the money.
Thanh, from Binh Phuoc, has just been temporarily detained by Phu My Town Police (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) for the act of Fraudulent appropriation of property.
According to the investigation, Vo Minh Thanh finished 3rd grade and had no stable job. At the beginning of the year, this young man joined an online loan group on Facebook and was instructed on how to scam. Thanh posted an advertisement on a group specializing in unsecured loans with the content: "Support for private loans with simple application, quick disbursement, reputable, confidential, bad debt coverage...".
Because she needed to borrow 1 billion VND for business, Ms. Lan in Phu My town contacted Thanh. After many calls and text messages for advice, he created a fake contract, took a photo and sent it to Ms. Lan, with the condition that she had to transfer him a sum of money as "loan insurance fee". Thanh promised to return this amount along with the 1 billion VND that Ms. Lan borrowed.
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Vo Minh Thanh at Phu My Town Police Station. Photo: Mai Thu |
Because she wanted to borrow money, Ms. Lan transferred the fee as requested by Thanh. He then used the excuse that "to receive money through the bank, you have to activate your account" and asked Ms. Lan to continue paying the fee. With this method, Thanh repeatedly asked Ms. Lan to transfer from several tens to 500 million VND. Although a bit suspicious, the woman still complied with the hope of borrowing capital and at the same time getting back the fee (hot loan, borrowed from relatives) that she had paid to Thanh.
In total, from January to March, Ms. Lan transferred nearly 2.5 billion VND to the accounts provided by Thanh. Waiting for a long time without receiving the loan and paying the fees, Ms. Lan reported to the police.
Working with the investigation agency, Thanh confessed that he had transferred the money he had appropriated from Ms. Lan into the accounts of many people. Thanh alone received 400 million VND, used it to play online games and spent it all.
According to Phu My Town Police, the money Thanh appropriated from Ms. Lan was divided into small pieces and transferred to many other accounts, making it difficult for authorities to investigate and recover the property.
"In this case, the suspects used up to 60 accounts that they bought from many other people to commit fraud. We are expanding the investigation into the case," said a leader of Phu My Town Police, warning people to be careful with online loan scams like the above.
