The scam of the female police captain

From a vacant lot…

Born into a well-educated family with a stable career, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha (born in 1980), residing in Truong Thi ward, Vinh city (Nghe An) did not want to improve her job and take care of her family, but wanted to get rich quickly. Taking advantage of her position as a police officer of Nghe An province at that time, Ha created for herself the "cover" of a tycoon to commit fraud. With many branded clothes and billion-dollar cars, Ha often showed off to everyone that she owned many valuable plots of land in the city.

After gaining trust, Ha used all kinds of tricks to borrow money. To get "investment" money from acquaintances, Ha even used the trick of selling fake land, using only 1 Land Use Rights Certificate to sell to many people and mortgage it to the bank.

The first scam took place in 2007, when Ha participated in a bid to buy a plot of land worth 100 million VND in Cua Lo Town. But right after paying the deposit, Ha handed it over to Ms. X. to get 145 million VND. When receiving the red book with Ha's name on it, Ha did not give it to Ms. X. to complete the name change procedure but kept it. After that, Ha used the red book to meet Ms. Le TH (Ha's aunt) to borrow 1.9 billion VND with the reason to pay for the next plot of land. After defrauding Ms. TH of the above amount, Ha continued to keep the red book and then put his biological mother's name in it to mortgage the Saigon - Hanoi Joint Stock Bank to borrow 700 million VND.

Not only that, at the end of July 2011, Ha continued to go to Ms. TH's house to ask to borrow 3 billion VND. When asked the reason for borrowing money, Ha replied, "I borrowed money to buy land to do business seriously and safely, you can rest assured." However, seeing that Ms. TH and her husband seemed skeptical, Ha affirmed that he was ready to mortgage and authorize the disposal of 2 plots of land, including the plot where Ha's family was living. From Ha's determination, Ms. TH and her husband wrote a loan paper for 3 billion VND.

It is worth mentioning that after getting the money from her family, Ha still brazenly took the red book of the land that she had promised to authorize to mortgage to another person without going through Ms. TH.

Through the investigation process, it was found that the total amount of money that Ha borrowed from Ms. TH was up to 6 billion VND (accounting for 1/3 of the total amount of money of the victims in the case). According to Ms. TH's statement at the Investigation Agency, because she trusted Ha as a civil servant, and moreover, Ha was a relative, when Ha asked to borrow money, Ms. Hiep happily accepted without the slightest doubt.

Tricks to call for "investment" money

At the same time, Ha also targeted her colleagues. Knowing that Ms. Nguyen Thi L., a colleague of Ha, had just sold land and had a large sum of money, Ha offered to borrow money to reverse the deed from the bank with a fair interest rate and that as long as Ha reversed the deed and sold the land, Ha would pay both the principal and interest. Trusting her colleague and Ha's business talent, Ms. L. freely lent Ha 1 billion 280 million VND. At first, Ms. L. saw that Ha paid the interest on time, but after 2 or 3 months, she waited for a long time without seeing Ha. After inquiring with her colleagues, Ms. L. found out that she had been deceived by Ha.

Not only that, taking advantage of being close friends, when he heard Ha sweetly asking to borrow money to buy a house and promised to pay back both principal and interest within 10 days, Mr. Nguyen Van T. quickly mortgaged the house he was living in to the bank to borrow 1 billion VND to give to Ha. Only when Ha was arrested did Mr. T. realize he had "fallen into Ha's trap".

Ha even "called for capital" from her child's teacher. With a generous lifestyle, not sparing any money to buy gifts to "encourage" Ms. T., Ha made Ms. T. trust her and consider Ha as a younger sister.

Therefore, when Ha asked for a loan and promised to pay it back in a short time, Ms. T. borrowed money and gave it to Ha. Ha even confided that because she was trying to finish her work and do business to increase her income, she did not have time to take care of and raise her child, so she asked for Ha's child to stay at the teacher's house for convenience in studying and living. It is known that the amount of money that Ha defrauded from teacher T. was more than 1 billion VND, including her parents' money and the money her younger brother who was about to get married also lent to Ha.

Not onlyCheatRelatives, neighbors, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha also deceived her closest friend, who had been with her throughout her childhood. Knowing that Ms. VL (Le Mao ward, Vinh city) was preparing to build a house, on February 28, 2011, she went to meet her. With the trick of needing money to reverse the bank deed, although she did not have a large amount of money in hand, Ms. VL still tried to borrow 1 billion VND from relatives to lend Ha. When the appointment came, Ha still applied the old trick, borrowing an additional 230 million VND. Also because of trusting her friends, until now, Ms. VL's plan to build a house is still far away, because she still has to pay off the debt she borrowed from her close friend.

Knowing Ha through social relationships, Mr. Dau Song T. (living in Truong Thi ward) could not avoid being borrowed by Ha. Knowing that Mr. T. received a dowry of 500 million VND from his parents to build a house or do business. Because he did not have enough money to build a house, Mr. T. deposited the above amount in the bank to get interest to support his children's education. While being chased by debtors, Ha sought out Mr. T. for help to borrow money at a high interest rate. Thinking that Ha was a state official, Mr. T. withdrew all the 500 million VND he was depositing in the bank to give to Ha. After receiving the money, Ha also disappeared and could not be contacted.

It is known that from 2007 to 2011, Ha committed 14 frauds, appropriating nearly 24 billion VND. Until the day of his trial, Ha still owed the victims over 22 billion VND.

"Super swindler" pleads guilty in court

At the end of August 2013, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of Tran Thi Ngoc Ha. The courtroom for the trial attracted hundreds of people. They came here not only as victims of the case but also as relatives, neighbors, and even teachers of the defendant's children. Among them, there were people with a well-off life, but there was also no shortage of poor people, low-income, and hired workers. Because they believed in Ha's sweet words, and also because of their greed for high interest, they were willing to hand over all their assets, money, land, and houses to Ha without any doubt. Not only that, there were people who had no money, but out of respect, they borrowed money from relatives to give to Ha.

As soon as the trial reached the second day, during the debate, another victim appeared holding a stack of loan papers from outside the auditorium, introducing himself as Pham A.D. (residing in Vinh City) who had also been scammed by Ha of 4 billion VND but did not receive a summons.

To ensure the rights of the victim and clarify the responsibilities of those involved in the above amount of money, due to the complicated circumstances of the case, the Trial Council has extended the deliberation until August 23, 2013.

Right at the trial, Ha confessed that her repeated fraud was because she borrowed a lot of money, the daily interest sometimes reaching tens of millions. When she was no longer able to pay, many creditors came to the agency gate to collect the debt. Being forced into that situation, she only knew how to target anyone she could deceive to get money to pay the debt. Just one Land Use Rights Certificate, but Ha sold it to many people, causing many families to fall into debt,...

Standing in the dock, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha did not beat around the bush or make excuses but confessed to all her actions. When she heard the prosecutor express his opinion and recommend a life sentence, she tried to reach out and hold onto the dock and burst into tears.

After a long period of deliberation, on the morning of August 23, 2013, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced defendant Tran Thi Ngoc Ha to "life imprisonment" for the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". At the same time, the defendant was forced to compensate 14 victims with 23 billion 883 million VND. The trial ended, but the anxiety and worry of dozens of victims still could not end. The amount of money they lent Ha was not small, there were people who could earn it all their lives but would never have it.

Ha's sentence and large debts are lessons for gullible people, those with poor knowledge of the law, who are greedy for immediate profits and forget that money earned must be paid for with intelligence, sweat and even tears to be clean and sustainable.