Dozens of medical graduates fall into the trap of a super scammer

Trick to "tie down" job seekers

Having a bachelor's degree in medicine for several years, Ms. Nguyen Thi H. (born in 1991), residing in Hung Dung ward, Vinh city, still has not found a suitable job. Therefore, at the end of 2018, when hearing that Tran Ngoc Tuyen (born in 1959, residing in Nghi Kim commune, Vinh city) had the ability to "run errands"At the hospitals, she met and asked to be admitted to Nghe An Provincial General Hospital. Tuyen agreed and offered a "cost" of 300 million VND. Then, at the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, Ms. H. gave Tuyen the full amount twice.

To gain her trust, Tuyen showed Ms. H. the list of candidates and the decision to hire her to work at the hospital. She thought she had passed the exam and would be working at a large hospital in the province, so Ms. H. was happy. But after a long wait, she still did not receive the notice of her admission.

Portrait of super scammer Le Thi Tuyet. Photo: Tran Vu

Previously, in 2013, through an acquaintance, Mr. Nguyen Xuan D. (residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city) met Tuyen. When they met, Tuyen bragged to Mr. D. that he knew many leaders of Nghe An Department of Health and leaders of hospitals in the province, so he could find jobs for those in need. Thinking it was real, Mr. D. asked Tuyen to find a job for his daughter.

Mr. D. then took over the documents and money of dozens of other people to give to Tuyen to apply for jobs at hospitals. Between 2018 and April 2020, Mr. D. gave Tuyen many sets of documents and nearly 4 billion VND. Tuyen gave all the money and documents he received to Le Thi Tuyet (born in 1979, residing in Nghi Kim commune, Vinh city) - the mastermind of the fraud using the trick of getting jobs at hospitals.

The “perfect pair” Tuyet and Tuyen have defrauded many victims, appropriating nearly 6 billion VND. Photo: Tran Vu

To avoid being suspected of fraud, Tuyen and Tuyet did not ask the victims to deposit money from the beginning but only received the application documents first. To “tie them down” and force the victims to follow through and not be able to apply for jobs elsewhere, Tuyen asked them to submit their original university diplomas. After a while, Tuyen and Tuyet showed the victims a list of candidates for the hospital, including the victims’ names, which they had forged, and asked them to pay a deposit.

Next, to gain the trust of the victims, Tuyet forged the admission decisions and agreed with Tuyen to meet the victims, show them these decisions and not let them make copies. After that, the subjects urged the victims to pay the agreed amount to receive the decisions. When the victims contacted the hospital to see the results but did not see their names on the admission list, Tuyet gave the reason that these were "internal quotas" not announced on the hospital's websites.

The investigation agency determined that with the above fraud method, from late 2013 to early 2020, Le Thi Tuyet and Tran Ngoc Tuyen together committed 3 acts of fraud against 3 victims to apply for jobs for 30 workers with a total amount of more than 4.8 billion VND.

In addition, Tuyet alone committed 2 acts of fraud, appropriating more than 775 million VND. Tran Ngoc Tuyen alone committed 3 acts of fraud, appropriating more than 430 million VND. Thus, the total amount of money that the 2 defendants defrauded and appropriated from the victims was nearly 6 billion VND.

Portrait of a super-swindler who is "in debt"

Recently, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought the two defendants Le Thi Tuyet and Tran Ngoc Tuyen to trial for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Notably, Tuyet is a defendant who is serving a 6-year prison sentence for two crimes of Fraud and Abuse of trust to appropriate property. The above sentence was announced in 2016, but at that time Tuyet was raising a young child so the execution of the sentence was postponed.

During this time, Tuyet continued to commit fraud. This time, Tuyet did not appear directly, but the task of receiving the documents and money from the workers was assigned to Tuyen. As for the "relationship" with the leaders of the Department of Health and hospitals, Tuyet told Tuyen to let her do it.

Many victims who attended the court said they had no idea that Tuyet had a previous conviction for fraud. Furthermore, the fact that Tuyet’s husband worked at a provincial hospital made many people believe Tuyet’s boasting even more. Therefore, they were not on guard and followed Tuyet and Tuyen’s instructions.

Some victims discovered they had been scammed after handing over money and documents to the defendants. These people repeatedly visited the defendants’ homes to demand a refund of the money they had defrauded, but both of them refused. Being involved in the scam ring of the two defendants caused many victims to suffer, including Mr. D.

The victim attended the court and asked the defendants to return the money they had defrauded. Photo: Tran Vu

Speaking in court, Mr. D. said that his family life was turned upside down because of the two defendants' fraudulent behavior. Especially when I stood up to receive money and documents for other people. In the presence of everyone, Mr. D. apologized.

In the witness stand, defendant Tuyên stated that he did not know any leaders of the Department of Health or the hospital. “The defendant said that because he followed Tuyet’s instructions,” Tuyên stated. Meanwhile, defendant Tuyết stated that she did not defraud the victims, she only borrowed money and had not yet paid it back. Because each time she received money, the defendant and the victim agreed to write a loan note.

The panel of judges determined that the actions of the two defendants were in violation of the law. Although they did not have the authority, function, or duty to arrange jobs for others, the two defendants fraudulently introduced themselves as acquaintances of many leaders of the Department of Health and leaders of hospitals to defraud many victims and appropriate large sums of money. The defendants' actions affected the reputation of many people and caused public outrage, so they should be severely punished.

Considering the role of each defendant in the case, the People's Court sentenced Le Thi Tuyet to 20 years in prison and Tran Ngoc Tuyen to 12 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property"./.