Man scams people out of over 2 billion VND by promising to "fix" legal cases and receiving deposits for land purchases.
(Baonghean.vn) - In just over a year, Vo Van Duc committed 21 acts of fraud, appropriating more than 2.3 billion VND from numerous victims. Duc's methods included promising to "fix" legal cases, forging land transfer deposit contracts, and fraudulently obtaining land ownership certificates.
On November 3rd, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial to hear the case against defendant Vo Van Duc (born in 1992), residing in Dien Chau district, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Because he needed money for personal expenses and took advantage of the "land fever" where many acquaintances wanted to buy land, Duc devised various schemes to defraud and embezzle money.
The methods Duc used to defraud his victims involved accepting deposits for the transfer of land plots that were not under his ownership or authorized by the landowner. Despite knowing he was incapable of issuing land ownership certificates ("red certificates"), Duc promised to do so, thereby swindling money from many people in Nghe An province.
In addition, this young man also committed fraud by promising to "fix" legal cases. Specifically, upon learning that Ms. Tran Thi X. (residing in Dien Bich commune, Dien Chau district) had two sons being detained for "intentionally causing injury," Duc went to her house and claimed he could "arrange for the two brothers to receive suspended sentences."
Within a short period, Duc repeatedly received 210 million VND from Ms. X to "fix" the case. However, Ms. X's two children were still sentenced to prison terms. After discovering she had been deceived, the woman demanded that Duc return the money he had received.
The investigating agency determined that, between January 2021 and May 2022, through the aforementioned fraudulent acts, Vo Van Duc committed 21 acts of fraud, appropriating property from 13 victims, totaling over 2.3 billion VND.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to defrauding the victims as charged in the indictment. The defendant stated that the money obtained through fraud had been spent on personal expenses, but did not specify what the money was used for.
The victims attending the trial demanded that the defendant return all the money he had embezzled from them.
Considering the mitigating circumstances in this case, such as surrendering to the authorities, making a sincere confession, partially compensating the victims for the damages, and having a war veteran father, the court, after comprehensively considering the case, sentenced Vo Van Duc to 17 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Regarding the civil aspect, the court ordered the defendant to return all the money he had stolen to the victims.
