Family goes bankrupt because of… their precious son.

Using counterfeit seals to raise capital.

In mid-June 2020, the Nghe An Provincial Police Department received numerous reports from victims in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces. Most of the reports all alleged that a person claiming to be a bank employee at the Vinh City branch had defrauded them of their money. Recognizing this as a highly sophisticated and cunning fraud case requiring considerable time to gather evidence, investigators established a special task force to investigate the fraud, which involved tens of billions of dong.

After nearly three months of continuous verification and evidence gathering, at the end of August 2020, investigators arrested Bui Huu Thang (born in 1986), residing in Trung Do ward (Vinh City), who is believed to be the mastermind behind the "fake" fundraising schemes.

Thang's first scam was in 2011, when, through connections, Ms. PTX (49 years old), residing in Nghi Xuan district (Ha Tinh province), met Bui Huu Thang. At that time, Thang introduced himself as an employee of a bank with a branch in Vinh City. During their conversation, Thang revealed that the bank where he worked was offering a high-interest rate (23.7%/year) for employees who deposited money.

Thang said that if Ms. X's family had any savings, they should give it to him so he could "deposit it in the bank to earn high interest." Believing Thang, and thinking that he was a bank employee and knew relatives and family members, Ms. X withdrew 800 million VND from her savings account at another bank to give to Thang.

Not stopping there, in May 2013, Thang informed Ms. X that the Vietnam Foreign Trade Bank (Vietcombank) was continuing its fundraising program, and if she had money, she should give it to Thang so he could deposit it for her. Hearing this, Ms. X went to his house again and gave Thang another 400 million VND to deposit into Vietcombank, just like before.

Because she was preparing to build a house, around September 2016, Ms. X. asked Thang to withdraw all the money for her. However, Thang gave several reasons, such as difficulties in withdrawing money from the bank, and requested Ms. X. to give him an additional 253,700,000 VND to complete the withdrawal procedures. But after receiving this amount, Thang still did not withdraw the money for Ms. X. and continued to find ways to evade the issue. At the same time, to gain Ms. X.'s trust, Thang provided various bank documents and even wrote a confirmation letter, guaranteeing to return the money to Ms. X. At this point, the total amount Thang had received from Ms. X. was over 1.4 billion VND. Unable to get her money back, Ms. X. had no choice but to file a complaint with the police.

Around the same time, a woman named H. (residing in Nghi Xuan district, Ha Tinh province) was also defrauded by Thang. Using a similar scam, Thang told Ms. H. that the bank where he worked had a deposit program for employees with high interest rates. Trusting Thang, Ms. H. deposited 1.5 billion VND with him to earn the high interest.

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Nghe An Provincial Police determined that, since 2011, Thang had impersonated an employee of a bank branch in Vinh City and spread rumors that the bank was running a fundraising program exclusively for employees with high interest rates. With his handsome, scholarly appearance and eloquent speaking skills, Thang deceived many people in Ha Tinh and Nghe An provinces into sending him money. However, he spent all of that money on personal expenses.

To gain the victims' trust, Bui Huu Thang also forged documents and procedures related to receiving the money, the form of capital contribution with red stamps, as well as decisions of branch managers of banks in the area… to give to them. At the investigative agency, Thang confessed that in addition to the two victims mentioned above, Bui Huu Thang also defrauded six other victims with a total amount of tens of billions of VND.

The elderly parents sold their house to pay off debts and have nowhere to live.

At the end of March 2021, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendant Bui Huu Thang on the charge of "fraudulent appropriation of property". From early morning, Mr. and Mrs. Bui VS (the defendant's parents) were present at the court hoping to see their son soon, not forgetting to bring some items for him to use in prison.

It is known that Bui Huu Thang is the only son in his family. Although the family is not wealthy, Mr. and Mrs. S. always created the best conditions for Thang to receive a proper education and graduate from university with a degree in Information Technology.

After receiving his Bachelor's degree, Thang began applying for jobs in various places. According to Thang, during his job search, through friends, he met a man named Nguyen Khac Tung, who claimed to be an employee of Vietcombank Vietnam's Hanoi branch. After discussions and agreements, Thang gave Tung 300 million VND to secure a job at this bank. Tung then gave Thang a document confirming Thang's official employment at Vietcombank's Nghe An branch. However, not long after, Thang discovered the document was fake. But when Tung told him that the 300 million VND he had given him would be transferred to a savings account with high interest, Thang didn't object.

Unable to get a job, Thang came up with a plan to scam people. He deceived his parents, claiming he had become a full-time employee of a bank. When they saw the job offer letter from their son, Mr. and Mrs. S. believed him and were overjoyed that their son had become a bank officer. From then on, Thang rode his motorbike to "work" every day, dressed like a bank employee, so everyone believed he was a real bank officer.

Thang's targets were people with good economic conditions; he didn't spare anyone, even his siblings and close relatives became his victims.

When approaching his "victims," ​​Thang introduced himself as an employee of Vietcombank's Nghe An branch and provided information that the bank had a fundraising program specifically for its employees to deposit savings with high interest rates, depending on the amount deposited, the interest rate could be over 20% per year. Thang also boasted that he could secure jobs in government agencies.

For victims who urgently needed to withdraw money, Thang demanded that they pay various fees for processing before they could withdraw it. He also wrote a guarantee promising to return the money. As a result, the victims continued to give Thang more money to retrieve the funds they had already sent.

Using extremely sophisticated fraudulent tactics, over a period of 7 years from 2011 to 2018, Thang defrauded 9 victims of nearly 11 billion VND.

At the trial, Thang admitted to the entire incident, but claimed that he did not use the embezzled money for personal expenses but transferred it to Nguyen Khac Tung to deposit in a high-interest savings account. Thang stated that all information about the fundraising program was provided by Tung. The money raised from customers was directly given to Tung by Thang, so there were no receipts or documents. When the victims demanded their money back, Thang sought Tung's help to resolve the issue for the customers, but was told that the funds could not be withdrawn because the maturity date had not yet arrived.

However, during the investigation, the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Nghe An Provincial Police verified the identity of the man named Nguyen Khac Tung. Verification from the bank revealed that the bank had never had an employee named Nguyen Khac Tung. The bank also did not have a savings mobilization program as Bui Huu Thang had told the victims.

The court determined that the defendant's fraudulent behavior was serious and therefore required strict punishment. However, in this case, the victims also bore some responsibility for conducting the transactions without going to the bank's headquarters.

Throughout the questioning, Mr. and Mrs. S. could only bow their heads, occasionally wiping away tears. For seven years, they believed their son was a bank employee until the police came to their house… Because Thang went to work and returned home during office hours every day, the family had no idea what was going on.

It is known that on several occasions when Thang was away from home, Mr. S. wrote receipts acknowledging receipt of money from the victims and gave it to his son, totaling approximately 800 million VND. Although he did not benefit from this money, when the police became involved, Mr. S. tried to return the money to the victims. To obtain this large sum, he and his wife had to sell their house, which was their entire asset.

After selling their house to pay off part of their son's debt, Mr. and Mrs. S. had to rent a small room to live in. Old and frail, Mrs. S. was suffering from a serious illness, and upon hearing the news of her son's crime, her condition worsened. Before Thang's trial, his mother had to be rushed to the hospital. Wanting to help their son but having no assets left, Mr. and Mrs. S. even mortgaged their pension book to pay for his wife's medical treatment.

In court, Bui Huu Thang bowed his head and apologized to his parents, relatives, and the victims. But the apology seemed to come too late…

Considering all aspects of the case, including aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Trial Panel sentenced Bui Huu Thang to life imprisonment for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 4 years imprisonment for "Forging documents of an organization; using forged documents of an organization". Combining the sentences, Bui Huu Thang must serve a life sentence and is ordered to compensate the victims for the money he appropriated.