The scam involving selling used cars by a man in debt.
Burdened with debt due to business losses, Phuc conceived the idea of defrauding people to steal their assets. His modus operandi involved using used car sales websites to obtain information and images of vehicles, then offering them for sale to interested buyers, ultimately stealing the money to pay off debts and for personal expenses.
On July 2nd, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendant Nguyen Duy Phuc (born in 1997), residing in Yen Thanh commune (Van Thanh district, Yen Thanh province), Nghe An province, on the charge of "Fraudulent appropriation of property.
Nguyen Duy Phuc works in the used car trading business, so he frequently buys and sells cars with many people across the country. Since the beginning of 2024, due to business losses and debts, Phuc conceived the idea of appropriating other people's assets.
The car dealer's tactic was to obtain information and photos of cars from used car classified websites, then offer them for sale to interested buyers.
To gain the customers' trust and get them to transfer money, Phuc sold the goods at a lower price than the price he had agreed to buy them at, in order to get the money from the customers in advance.
On June 23, 2024, through an online used car sales website, Phuc saw someone wanting to sell a Hyundai Accent for 350 million VND, so he messaged to buy it, placing a 5 million VND deposit so that the seller would send him the car's information and pictures.
Upon obtaining information about the vehicle, Phuc posted an article, images, and vehicle registration certificate to advertise its sale. Simultaneously, Phuc messaged Mr. Nguyen Hai L. (born in 1982, residing in Hung Yen province) to offer the car for sale at 340 million VND.
On the afternoon of June 26th, knowing that Mr. L. had previously agreed to buy the car and needing more money, Phuc offered to sell another car for 295 million VND.
When the customer agreed to buy two cars, Phuc demanded a deposit of half the money upfront with the intention of defrauding him. Trusting him, Mr. L. transferred 395 million VND to Phuc. Nguyen Duy Phuc then used this money to pay off debts to many people.
After receiving the money, Phuc repeatedly lied about sending the cars to the customer. Phuc sent photos of two cars and told Mr. L. that the cars were being transported.
Several days later, when the cars still hadn't arrived, Mr. L. asked Phuc to send him the phone number of the driver who was transporting the cars so he could contact him. At this point, Phuc asked a friend to pretend to be the driver transporting the two cars for the customer.
After waiting for the car to arrive without success, Mr. L. went to Di An City (Binh Duong province) to meet Phuc. This time, Phuc lied again, but the deception was exposed. After repeatedly demanding his money back without success, Mr. L. filed a complaint against Phuc with the police.
On September 20, 2024, the police arrested Nguyen Duy Phuc under emergency circumstances.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Phuc stated that due to business losses and debts, he resorted to defrauding others. He apologized to the victims and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances and reduce his sentence.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges sentenced Nguyen Duy Phuc to 3 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
