The trick of the 'braggart' impersonating an official of Nghe An Department of Home Affairs to defraud 11 people of nearly 3 billion VND

On the morning of August 28, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Le Quang Hoa (born 1980), residing in Bong Khe commune, Con Cuong district, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

The investigation agency determined that due to not having a stable job, taking advantage of the recruitment policy of civil servants and public employees in the Departments, branches and sectors under the People's Committee of Nghe An province, Hoa had the intention of defrauding and appropriating property.

The trick that Hoa came up with was to impersonate an officer of the Department of Home Affairs of Nghe An province or an officer of the Vinh City Police, having close relationships with people holding positions and powers in the Departments, branches and sectors of the People's Committee of Nghe An province, so he could apply for jobs for many people in state agencies in the province, and request job transfers from provinces and cities across the country to Nghe An.

Using the above tricks, from April 2016 to December 2018, Le Quang Hoa defrauded and appropriated property of 11 people in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces with a total amount of nearly 3 billion VND.

Specifically, Hoa defrauded and appropriated 500 million VND from Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh H., residing in Huong Khe district (Ha Tinh). Ms. H.'s daughter graduated from university but did not have a job. On October 3, 2017, Ms. H. met Hoa to ask him to help her find a job for her daughter. When they met, Hoa introduced himself as an officer of the Department of Home Affairs of Nghe An province and promised to help Ms. H.'s daughter work as an accountant at the Economic Project Board of Nghe An province for a fee of 500 million VND. On October 4, 2017, Ms. H. gave Hoa 500 million VND. Hoa promised the job applicant that she would have a decision to start working by the end of November 2017.

Defendant Le Quang Hoa at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

However, after receiving the money, Hoa spent it on personal expenses and did not proceed with the job search for Ms. H's child as promised. When she realized she had been scammed, Ms. H. asked Hoa to return the money. To date, Hoa has only returned 270 million VND to Ms. H.

Not only did Hoa deceive strangers, he also deceived his brothers and friends. Mr. Nguyen Ke T., residing in Nghi Loc district, was a classmate of Hoa. During a meeting in July 2017, when Hoa introduced himself as currently working at the Department of Personnel Organization, Nghe An Department of Home Affairs, and could help find a job or transfer work to anyone in need, Mr. T. immediately trusted his classmate.

Mr. T. asked Hoa to transfer his sister-in-law, a teacher in Dong Thap province, to work as a teacher in Nghi Loc district. Hoa offered a price of 300 million VND.

On August 25, 2017, at Hoa's request, Mr. T. transferred his sister-in-law's job transfer application to Hoa. Although after receiving the application, Hoa kept it at home, he texted Mr. T. saying that the application had been approved by the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, so he asked him to transfer money to Hoa to complete the procedure. On August 29, 2017, Mr. T. transferred 300 million VND to Hoa's account. After appropriating the above amount, Hoa spent it all on personal expenses.

On July 26, 2018, Hoa continued to lie to Mr. T. that his sister-in-law had been specially considered for a job transfer and asked him to pay an additional 40 million VND to request a decision on accepting the job. Mr. T. continued to transfer 40 million VND to Hoa. Le Quang Hoa appropriated a total of 340 million VND from Mr. T.

The investigation agency determined that Le Quang Hoa had defrauded and appropriated nearly 3 billion VND from 11 people. Of which, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc B. got 300 million VND, Mr. Nguyen Van B. got 400 million VND, Ms. Truong Thuy H. got 130 million VND, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy H. got 300 million VND....

At court, the defendant admitted to committing the crime as charged in the indictment. Regarding the amount of money he had embezzled from the victims, Hoa said he had spent it on personal expenses, but did not elaborate. This made the victims attending the trial upset.

Speaking in court, the victims demanded that Le Quang Hoa return the money he had appropriated. Many victims said that to have the money to pay Hoa, they had to borrow money from everywhere, and are currently paying interest, their lives have been turned upside down, and they are miserable because they believed the scammer.

It is known that the victims in this case are all acquaintances and friends of Hoa. Therefore, being blatantly defrauded by Hoa makes the victims even more indignant.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant’s actions were in violation of the law. Because of greed, he swindled and appropriated property from many people. The amount of money the defendant appropriated from the victims was enormous.

Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced Le Quang Hoa to 17 years in prison for “fraudulent appropriation of property”. The defendant was required to return all the money he had appropriated from the victims.

It is known that in 2008, Le Quang Hoa was sentenced by Vinh City People's Court to 9 months in prison with a suspended sentence for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".