After losing money playing the cryptocurrency game, a 'female con artist' scammed and embezzled nearly 11 billion VND.

On January 11th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court held a first-instance trial to hear the case against defendant Nguyen Thi Van (born in 1988), residing in Thanh Lien commune (Thanh Chuong district) and temporarily living in Trung Do ward (Vinh City), for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property.

Nguyen Thi Van, a freelancer, invested in online cryptocurrency exchanges and suffered losses. This led her to devise a plan to defraud customers by offering money transfer services through bank accounts.

Defendant Nguyen Thi Van received a life sentence. Photo: Tran Vu

Between June 2019 and August 2021, Van approached numerous victims, claiming to have connections with many clients involved in the used motorcycle and car business or goods transportation who needed to transfer large sums of money.

Van used 12 bank accounts belonging to herself, her friends, and relatives to deceive victims into believing they were business accounts, leading them to entrust her with money for money transfer services. Van agreed with the victims that she would pay a service fee of 3,000 VND per 1 million VND transferred.

After receiving the money, Van would transfer a portion of the principal and service fees to build trust with the victims, while the remaining amount was used to pay off debts and continue investing in cryptocurrencies, but she suffered losses and became unable to repay the debts.

Investigators determined that Nguyen Thi Van committed seven acts of fraud, appropriating nearly 11 billion VND. Of these, the victim who was defrauded the most was swindled out of nearly 5 billion VND.

After misappropriating the victims' money, Van used it to invest in cryptocurrency, repay the principal, and pay for services.

On August 4, 2021, fearing creditors would demand their money back, Van cut off all communication and fled from her rented room in Vinh City. On November 1, 2021, Nguyen Thi Van surrendered to the police, confessing to all her fraudulent acts of appropriating property.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Van stated that she committed the fraud as charged due to losses from cryptocurrency investments. The defendant claimed she is currently unable to repay the victims.

The defendant apologized to the victims and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances so that he could be released from prison early and earn money to repay the victims.

The court determined that the defendant's multiple acts of fraud constituted an aggravating circumstance in this case, and therefore sentenced Nguyen Thi Van to life imprisonment. Regarding the civil aspect, the court ordered the defendant to return the money to the victims.