They had fake land deeds made to use as collateral for a loan to build a house.

On July 27th, the People's Court of Tan Ky District tried the criminal case against Doan Thanh Giang (born in 1975), residing in Tan Ky town, Tan Ky district, for the crime of...Using forged documents from agencies or organizations.

According to the indictment: Doan Thanh Giang learned about Ms. Le Thi D., residing in Thi Tu hamlet, Tan An commune, Tan Ky district (a person who specializes in lending money but requires collateral), through an acquaintance, Ms. Ho Thi H., residing in Tan Hong hamlet, Huong Son commune, Tan Ky district, Nghe An province.

Around July 2021, because she needed money to build a house but had no valuable assets to mortgage, Giang came up with the idea of ​​having a land title deed made to borrow money from Ms. Le Thi D.

Defendant Doan Thanh Giang. Photo: Phuong Hao

While searching online, Giang came across an advertisement for a service that creates fake land titles. He used his mobile phone to access the ad link and was connected to a woman. During the conversation, Giang learned that this woman offered a service for creating fake land titles, so he befriended her on Zalo using the name Thanh (no other personal information was known).

Giang sent a text message to order a fake land title deed for an agreed-upon cost of 7,000,000 VND. Giang provided personal information, along with details of plot number 26, map sheet number 11, located at Block 1, Tan Ky town, Tan Ky district, Nghe An province. This information pertains to a plot of land owned by Mr. D.T.L., residing in Hamlet 4, Nghi An commune, Vinh City, Nghe An province (the biological father of Doan Thanh Giang), to create a fake land title deed in the name of Doan Thanh Giang.

About four days later, a delivery person from a courier service delivered a package to Giang containing a Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Assets Attached to Land, code CN 887077, under the name of owner Doan Thanh Giang, matching the information previously obtained through the forgery. Giang paid the delivery person 7 million VND and then deleted all the messages and unfriended the Zalo account named Thanh to avoid detection.

After receiving the fake land title, on July 5, 2021, Giang went to Ms. Le Thi D.'s house to mortgage the property and borrow 100,000,000 VND at an interest rate of 1.5% per month. On July 20, 2021 and July 23, 2021, Giang continued to borrow from Ms. Le Thi D. 145,000,000 VND and 55,000,000 VND respectively, at the same interest rate.

On August 4, 2021, Doan Thanh Giang again met with Ms. D. to borrow more money. This time, Ms. D. requested a land use rights transfer contract for the land Giang had mortgaged, along with a commitment not to transfer ownership within 5 years.

On August 6, 2021, Doan Thanh Giang asked Ms. Hai and Mr. Tam (judicial officials of Tan An commune) to draft a land use rights transfer contract for plot number 26, map sheet number 11, to the couple Le Thi D. Subsequently, Giang borrowed another 350,000,000 VND from Ms. Le Thi D. The total amount Doan Thanh Giang borrowed from Ms. Le Thi D. was 650,000,000 VND, with an interest rate of 1.5% per month. Throughout the borrowing process, Doan Thanh Giang fulfilled his obligations to repay the principal and interest according to the agreed-upon schedule.

On March 16, 2022, Ms. Le Thi D. filed a complaint accusing Ms. Ho Thi H. of using forged documents to defraud and misappropriate property. She also suspected that the Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Assets Attached to Land, code CN 887077, registered under the name of owner Doan Thanh Giang, which Giang had mortgaged to borrow money, was fake. Therefore, she submitted the complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department of Tan Ky District Police for verification and investigation.

The Investigation Police Department of Tan Ky District Police conducted an expert examination of the Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Assets Attached to Land, code CN 887077, registered under the name of owner Doan Thanh Giang. The conclusion of the Forensic Technical Department of Nghe An Provincial Police stated that the Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Other Assets Attached to Land submitted for examination was counterfeit.

On March 23, 2022, realizing that his actions were illegal, Giang surrendered to the Criminal Investigation Department of Tan Ky District Police. At the time of surrender, Giang had paid Ms. D. the principal and interest totaling 350 million VND and still owed 346 million VND.

At the end of the trial, the panel of judges sentenced Doan Thanh Giang to 7 months in prison.