The scam involving selling betel nut seedlings online by a young man from Dai Dong commune.
Trinh Van Duong (born in 1997, residing in Hamlet 3, Dai Dong Commune, Nghe An Province) has been charged with "Fraudulent appropriation of property" for using social media to advertise and sell non-existent betel nut seedlings, thereby defrauding many people in various localities of their deposit money.
Previously, the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of the Da Nang City Police transferred the case file regarding suspected "Fraudulent appropriation of property" via Facebook to the Office of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Da Nang City Police for investigation under its jurisdiction against Trinh Van Duong (born in 1997, residing in Hamlet 3, Dai Dong Commune, Nghe An Province).
Initial investigations revealed that, due to a lack of personal funds, Trinh Van Duong conceived the idea of defrauding people by advertising the sale of betel nut seedlings on social media. He requested buyers to transfer deposit money, then blocked all communication to embezzle their funds.
Around October 2024, Duong created a Facebook account named "Green Areca Garden" and a Zalo account named "Areca Garden," using the phone number 0928.511.029 for transactions. He downloaded images of areca palm seedlings from various online sources and posted advertisements selling them with false information. When contacted, Duong negotiated the price and requested a deposit of 10% to 20% of the order value, to be transferred to VPBank account number 3283249454 under the name Trinh Van Duong.
On October 19, 2024, Ms. N. (born in 1989, residing in Nam Gia Nghia ward, Lam Dong province) contacted Duong while traveling in Da Nang City to purchase 5,000 betel nut seedlings at a price of 7,000 VND per seedling and transferred a 5 million VND deposit as requested by Duong. After receiving the money, the suspect immediately blocked all communication and embezzled the entire amount.
Further investigation revealed that, using the aforementioned methods, Trinh Van Duong defrauded approximately 40 victims in various provinces and cities across the country, with the total amount of money stolen estimated at around 150 million VND.
The case is currently under further investigation. Authorities request that anyone who is a victim in this case urgently contact the Office of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Da Nang City Police, located at 47 Ly Tu Trong Street, Hai Chau Ward, Da Nang City, or Investigator Duong Tuan Anh (Phone number: 0983.177.743) to cooperate in resolving the matter according to regulations.
