The scam perpetrated by 'fake journalists'

Exposing the deceptive tactics of "fake" journalists.

The People's Court of Nghe An province recently opened a trial against defendant Nguyen Thi Van Anh (47 years old), residing in Dien Hanh commune, Dien Chau district, for the crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Using forged documents and seals of agencies and organizations".

Van Anh, originally from Hanoi, rented a house in Dien Hanh commune. During her time there, she conceived the idea of ​​defrauding people by claiming she could change the land use purpose. To carry out her scam, Van Anh commissioned an unidentified man online to forge a journalist's ID card and a fake inspector's ID card bearing her name and photo for 10 million VND. After obtaining the fake ID cards, Van Anh showed them to several people, introducing herself as the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of a major newspaper's online portal in Central Vietnam, claiming to have extensive connections with departments and agencies in Nghe An province and at the central level, and therefore able to change the land use purpose from agricultural land to residential land.

The "prey" she targeted was none other than her neighbors, including Ms. Tran Thi H. (50 years old). During Ms. H.'s visits, Van Anh claimed to be a journalist, then showed her fake press cards and inspector's cards, as well as trophies and certificates of merit bearing her name, awarded by the Vietnam Press Agency. This "female con artist" also claimed to have the ability to change the land use purpose.

To gain her neighbor's trust, Van Anh took Ms. H. to see a plot of farmland whose owner was unknown, then fabricated a story about buying it for 200 million VND. After converting the land use to residential land, she claimed the plot was now being offered for 3.5 billion VND. Seeing that her neighbor believed her, Van Anh told Ms. H. to buy agricultural land near roads and development projects, then give it to her to handle the conversion to residential land.

Believing the scammer's claims, Ms. H. purchased several plots of agricultural land and then asked Van Anh to convert them to residential land. Using this method, Van Anh defrauded the family six times, amounting to a huge sum of money. Specifically, in June 2021, Ms. H. asked Van Anh to convert a plot of agricultural land measuring over 1,000 square meters into residential land and divide it into seven plots. Van Anh demanded a conversion fee of nearly 1.6 billion VND, requiring a one-third deposit upfront, and promising that the conversion would be completed within six months, after which Ms. H. would pay the remaining amount. Ms. H. agreed and transferred money to Van Anh several times.

After receiving the deposit, Van Anh hired someone to forge 7 land use right certificates (for 165 million VND) and handed them over to Mrs. H. Unaware that she had been deceived by Van Anh, Mrs. H. used the fake "land ownership certificates." In the following months, using similar tactics, Van Anh defrauded Mrs. H. a total of 6 times, appropriating over 6.1 billion VND.

Notably, during the fraud against Ms. Tran Thi H., this individual also contacted and provided false information to deceive Ms. H.'s son. Seeing that his mother had received land ownership certificates (converting agricultural land to residential land) from Van Anh, the son believed her words. Therefore, he sought Van Anh's help and was subsequently defrauded of 4.5 billion VND.

In addition to the above scheme, Nguyen Thi Van Anh also asked the victims to jointly purchase and contribute to the costs of changing the land use purpose. When the victims trusted her and sent money, she embezzled the money from her "partners". The investigating agency determined that from May 2021 to April 2022, Nguyen Thi Van Anh embezzled a total of more than 12.5 billion VND from 5 victims.

Using money obtained through fraud to pay for plastic surgery.

At the trial, despite wearing a prisoner's uniform, the female defendant still exuded the beauty of a lady with her neatly braided light-colored hair, fair complexion, and red lipstick. Approaching 50, Van Anh's beauty was still captivating, especially since she had previously spent hundreds of millions of dong on cosmetic surgery. Notably, the investment in cosmetic surgery came from money obtained through fraud. Furthermore, the defendant confessed to using the money stolen from victims to purchase numerous properties in Vinh City, Da Nang, and Hanoi. She also used the money to buy several cars, including some worth billions of dong, for transportation and to continue defrauding others.

Furthermore, Van Anh confessed to spending billions of dong on gold for safekeeping. Notably, the female defendant also splurged on cosmetic procedures. She underwent plastic surgery at a well-known beauty clinic in Vinh City. In addition, she admitted to buying many expensive items for her family and spending all of it on personal expenses…

After the incident came to light, authorities froze and recovered some assets, using the money to reimburse the victims. However, the defendant admitted to selling many assets before his arrest, so authorities lacked grounds to recover them. By the day before the trial, the defendant had repaid over 5.5 billion VND to the victims.

At the trial, the "fake" journalist repeatedly broke down in tears, admitting to her crimes. The defendant stated that she was no longer able to repay her debts and apologized to the victims. "I know that over the past time, I have caused great hardship and suffering to your families. I myself have paid a heavy price. I have lost everything – my family, my relatives, my friends – all because of my enormous mistake. I hope you will be lenient, so that I can return home soon to atone for my mistakes, find a job to earn an income, and compensate the victims," ​​the female defendant said, bowing her head in apology to the victims in court.

A lesson for many people.

Attending the trial, one of the victims presented to the judges with choked emotion: Because they were neighbors, whenever Van Anh visited their house, she would show off her gold trophy, an award she received for her journalistic work. They also saw Van Anh boasting about receiving beautiful flower arrangements from high-ranking leaders. “We trusted her so much that we didn’t take any precautions. Every time she was away from home, Van Anh would proactively call me and say she was attending a meeting, sitting with central government leaders, which made my family believe her completely,” the victim explained.

Because they trusted her so much, the family mortgaged their land title deeds to the bank and borrowed money from many other people to give to Van Anh. “Every time we met, she would say: ‘Just be patient, in only 3 months you will have a comfortable life, you won’t have to work but you’ll still have money to spend. I treat you like a sister, that’s why I’m helping you like this,’” the victim continued, adding that Van Anh instructed the family not to check the land title deeds, warning that if they did, the project would fall apart.

Naive and lacking awareness, this family repeatedly handed over money to Van Anh until many of their assets were mortgaged to the bank, only to receive fake land ownership certificates. "When we discovered we had been scammed, we were mentally shocked; some even had to be hospitalized. The defendant scammed adults, people from the countryside who are unemployed; it's an immoral act. The defendant's actions are unacceptable," said one victim, adding that the family now has to sell ancestral land to pay off bank debts. Many family members are now crammed together on a small plot of land, enduring extreme hardship. Therefore, the victim requested that the court severely punish the defendant.

Having committed the crime with aggravating circumstances two or more times, defendant Nguyen Thi Van Anh was sentenced by the court to 17 years in prison for the crime of Fraudulent Appropriation of Property and 3 years in prison for the crime of Using Forged Documents and Seals of Agencies and Organizations; the total combined sentence is 20 years in prison. In addition, the court also ordered the defendant to compensate the victims for the stolen money (minus any previously repaid amounts).

Thus, the defendant's criminal behavior has been punished with a fitting sentence. However, this also serves as a lesson for many people: do not blindly trust the outward appearance or the "label" that fraudsters create, and then entrust large sums of money to them, only to lose it and fail to achieve your goal.