Impersonating a military officer to commit fraud

(Baonghean.vn) -Tan Ky District Police, Nghe An Province, has just coordinated with the Road and Railway Traffic Police Department of Nghe An Police, Nghia Dan District Police, to arrest 3 subjects impersonating armed forces officers to defraud and appropriate people's property. The case shows the sophisticated tricks of the subjects and a lesson for people to be vigilant against these scams.

Case

Since early 2013, Tan Ky District Police have received many reports from the public about fraudulent appropriation of property by some subjects who introduced themselves as military officers. By using the prestige of the armed forces, the subjects have created sophisticated scams that only when the money is handed over and the subjects "run away" do the people realize they have been deceived.

The family of Ms. Le Thi Lien, in Hamlet 4, Tan Tho Commune, Tan Ky District is an example. She recounted: In the early days of 2013, 3 "military officers" with the rank of lieutenant colonel and lieutenant came to her house and invited her family to buy surplus rice in the warehouse at a price only 1/3 of the market price. Thinking it was real, she and her husband tried to borrow 15 million VND. As scheduled, when the time came to hand over the money to the "officers", thinking that her husband had received the goods, she handed over the money to them. When the subjects "disappeared", the couple was surprised to realize this trick.

After receiving some information from the grassroots, the Tan Ky District Police Investigation Agency quickly took action, established Project 813L and quickly clarified the identity, behavior, and tricks of these subjects.

Vuong Hong Thanh, Vuong Van Thanh and Ngo Van Chung were arrested.

Uninvited Guests

On August 17, 2013, the house of Mr. Le Van Chung and Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh, residing in Hamlet 1, Nghia Binh Commune, Tan Ky District, suddenly welcomed 3 distinguished guests, "military officers" with "bright" ranks, to their house. Introducing themselves as "lieutenant colonel" Nguyen Van Hoa - deputy commander of Brigade 206, "lieutenant colonel" Dao Thanh Hai and "captain" Ngo Viet Anh, whose task was to install telecommunication towers, these 3 officers asked to install telecommunication towers and would pay about 4.5 million VND per month for the location rental.

Realizing that this was a large sum of money, Mr. Chung and Ms. Oanh happily accepted. After organizing the measurement, photocopying the documents, drafting the contract and encouraging the landlord to "advance" the rent for 2 years with the amount of... 180 million VND, they also suggested the need to sell 12 tons of food including corn and rice surplus in the armed forces at the price of 5,000 VND/kg, cheaper than the market price, a total amount of 40 million VND to Mr. Chung and Ms. Oanh's family, asking the family to pay this amount in advance and will take them to a nearby military unit to receive the food. Continuing to make Mr. Chung and Ms. Oanh have absolute trust, the 3 officers gave 100 kg of rice and corn in advance (without taking money) at... the gate of a nearby military unit. Mr. Chung and Ms. Oanh went to receive the "gifted" rice and corn in advance and agreed to pay.

However, the actions of these three "officers" could not be hidden from the authorities.

As scheduled, at around 9:30 a.m. on August 23, 2013, “Captain” Ngo Viet Anh came to Chung and Oanh’s house to receive 40 million VND. After putting the money in his pocket, the officer named Anh promised to return and take the homeowner to get the goods within the next five minutes. However, as soon as he left Chung’s gate, he was arrested by undercover police. At the same time, at a location 500m away and at the gate of a military unit 20km away, Tan Ky District Police simultaneously launched a joint operation, capturing the two subjects while they were waiting to escape.

Evidence used by the subjects to commit fraud

Revealing the "super scammers"

At the police station, the three subjects confessed: To gain people's trust, Vuong Hong Thanh (born in 1957), Ngo Van Chung (born in 1965) and Vuong Van Thanh (born in 1974), all residing in Trang Viet, Me Linh, Hanoi, bought clothes, military ranks, insignia, name tags... to pretend to be military officers, with the ranks of lieutenant colonel and captain, and went to Tan Ky (Nghe An) to use their "trick". In which, Vuong Hong Thanh wore the rank of lieutenant colonel, "playing the role" of deputy commander of Brigade 206; Ngo Van Chung wore the rank of lieutenant colonel and Vuong Van Thanh - the rank of captain. To prepare for the "trip", all three agreed on a very meticulous plan. The list of addresses to visit was arranged in order, with Chung's and Oanh's family being the first destination on this "trip".

According to the pre-arranged scheme, after gaining the trust of the “partner” through sequential and sophisticated actions, at the time of receiving the money, Thanh, Chung and Thanh would be in 3 different locations and lure Chung and Oanh, the couple who went to receive rice at… the gate of a nearby military unit, and the person who gave the money. When receiving the money, all 3 would escape together. However, after receiving the money, the three subjects were not able to escape before they were arrested by the undercover police.

Through searching the subjects, in addition to the money defrauded from Mr. Chung and Ms. Oanh's families, the authorities seized 3 sets of military uniforms with full ranks, insignia, fake name tags, military officer's belongings, 20 million VND in cash, 3 mobile phones and many related documents. The subjects' notebooks showed a sophisticated plan, from diagrams to the characteristics of each family...

It is known that the criminals have been sentenced to dozens of years in prison for fraud and property appropriation. Among them, Vuong Hong Thanh has a 10-year prison sentence for breach of trust and property appropriation, and was released from prison in 2000. Vuong Van Thanh has a previous conviction for fraud and property appropriation, and was released from prison in 2010. After being released from prison, they continued to collude and go to many different locations to defraud and appropriate people's property. Determining the time and place of the crime has always been difficult for the investigation force to solve the case. Therefore, Tan Ky District Police have made every effort to solve this case.

The case is currently being further investigated by the police./.

Huong Giang