Two individuals have been charged with fraud and embezzlement of over 5 billion VND.

On June 18th, the Office of the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Nghe An Provincial Police announced that it had issued a decision to initiate a criminal case, indict and temporarily detain two individuals, Pham Dinh The (born in 1991), residing in Giang Son Tay commune, Do Luong district, and Tran Dinh Hao (born in 1992), residing in Tan Ky town, Tan Ky district, Nghe An province, for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.

Through intelligence gathering, the Office of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency discovered several individuals in the area exhibiting suspicious behavior related to criminal activities.fraud and misappropriation of propertyOperating with highly sophisticated methods, and exploiting the lax procedures for self-drive car rentals and the lack of vigilance on the part of vehicle owners, the perpetrators used social media to hire people to create fake documents in their names to pawn the vehicles and obtain money for personal use. To quickly investigate and clarify the matter, the Office of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency reported to the Provincial Police leadership and established a special case to concentrate forces and resources to combat and dismantle the operation.

After consolidating documents and evidence, and implementing coordinated investigative measures, on June 2, 2025, Team No. 3 of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency successfully cracked the case, arresting two suspects, Pham Dinh The and Tran Dinh Hao, for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property".

The investigation revealed that during his time repairing and buying/selling cars, Pham Dinh The met and became acquainted with Tran Dinh Hao. In late April 2025, needing money to pay debts and for personal expenses, The proactively approached Hao to ask him to pawn his truck (the one The was using to transport glue for hire). However, because the vehicle was not registered in his name and had been purchased from a company in another province, no place would accept it as collateral. Both then conceived the idea of ​​defrauding and misappropriating property by providing false information and forging vehicle documents to gain the trust of individuals, self-drive car rental businesses, and pawnshops, thereby obtaining money for personal use.

In mid-May 2025, The and Hao went to the "TV" self-drive car rental business in Hung Nguyen town, Hung Nguyen district, owned by Mr. M., to rent a Hyundai Kona car with license plate 37K-313.XX for one month at a rental price of 16 million VND per month. Afterward, the two ordered fake documents online (identity and background unknown) under the name Pham Dinh The, then pawned the car and the fake documents at the "QK" pawn shop in Dong Van commune, Tan Ky district, for 150 million VND. The and Hao divided this money for personal expenses.

Using the above methods, Pham Dinh The directly rented 6 cars from different locations and forged the documents for 2 cars in his name to pawn them, obtaining money for personal use. The value of the misappropriated assets was over 3.2 billion VND; Tran Dinh Hao directly rented 5 cars from different locations and forged the documents for 2 cars in his name to pawn them, obtaining money for personal use. The value of the misappropriated assets was over 2 billion VND.

Currently, the Investigation Agency Office of the Nghe An Provincial Police is continuing to investigate and expand the case.