'Beauty' sets net to swindle billions

Shocked when "beauty" turned off the phone

It has been nearly 3 years since the trial of Au Thi Thanh Hang (born 1996), residing in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city, Nghe An, but Ms. PTMH, residing in Mai Dong ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi city, has only received a mere 350 million VND while the amount of money she was embezzled was up to billions of VND.

Knowing Hang through her ex-husband, Ms. PTMH admitted that she was impressed by Hang's liberal style. With the image of a stylish, playboy, willing to spend money on branded items and expensive entertainment services, many people did not know that Hang actually did not have a stable job.

To build her personal image on social networks as a businesswoman, Hang always posts pictures of herself partying at luxurious places, driving luxury cars, and living in high-end apartments. Claiming to have a "natural" ability to see beautiful plots of land, Hang always shares a lot of information about her super-profitable land "surfing" deals, making many people admire. Taking advantage of the land fever, Hang called on many people to contribute capital to invest for profit.

It is known that at the end of 2021, seeing that Hang had a lot of money and changed to a Mercedes car, Ms. PTMH texted to ask about her health and asked what Hang did to have so much money. Hang said that she worked in real estate, specializing in land trading. Seeing that, Ms. PTMH raised the issue, when there was a nice piece of land, she would share capital to do business and Au Thi Thanh Hang agreed.

At this time, because she had a surplus of money, Ms. PTMH did not hesitate to invest in land. However, by April 2022, Hang repeatedly used the excuse that the cover had not been transferred, the customer had not transferred the money to refuse to pay Ms. PTMH every time it was due. Around the beginning of May 2022, Ms. PTMH was shocked when she could not call Hang, only receiving a text message from the "beauty" who used the excuse that she was traveling abroad so she could not receive phone calls. Realizing that Hang had many signs of financial irregularities, Ms. PTMH's family investigated and discovered that Hang had staged a drama of collecting money from land trading to deceive her family. With enough documents and evidence, Ms. PTMH filed a complaint with the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency.

On May 16, 2022, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police temporarily detained Au Thi Thanh Hang (born in 1996), residing in Vinh Tan Ward, Vinh City, to investigate and clarify the act of "Fraud and appropriation of property". Many acquaintances of Au Thi Thanh Hang were shocked to hear that this "beautiful woman" was temporarily detained by the authorities for investigation.

Scam to steal 7.1 billion VND

At the investigation agency, Au Thi Thanh Hang confessed that because she did not have a stable job and wanted to have money to play games for rewards on social networks, Hang came up with the idea of ​​defrauding and appropriating the assets of investors.

Hang's first transaction took place in early 2022, Hang informed Ms. PTMH that in the center of Vinh City, a very beautiful piece of land was being sold for only 2.4 billion VND. Confident with her "discerning" eyes, Hang assured Ms. PTMH that it could be rented for 80-90 million VND/month. To make the victim trust in investing, Hang suggested that each party contribute half to speculate for profit and Ms. PTMH agreed. From January 5, 2022, Ms. PTMH transferred 1.4 billion VND to Hang.

Next, Au Thi Thanh Hang went to a photocopy shop to get a deposit contract form on the transfer of land use rights, wrote the deposit recipient's information herself, signed the depositor and deposit recipient, then took a photo and sent it to Ms. PTMH to see.

Not only that, Hang went on Facebook to ask a stranger to make a fake land use right certificate with her name as the owner of the above land for 10 million VND. After receiving the fake land certificate from the express delivery staff, Hang took a picture and sent it to Ms. PTMH to make her believe that she had bought the land. Hang used all the money she had appropriated to gamble on social networks and lost it all.

Realizing that Ms. PTMH completely trusted her, Au Thi Thanh Hang continued to deceive Ms. PTMH. Using similar tricks, Hang asked Ms. PTMH to transfer money 3 times to contribute capital to buy 3 plots of land in Vinh City, appropriating 4.5 billion VND.

In addition, at the end of April 2022, after using all the money she had appropriated from Ms. PTMH to gamble and lost it all, Au Thi Thanh Hang continued to trick her into investing money to buy land in Ha Tinh, but because she had no money left, Ms. PTMH did not invest. To make her continue to trust her and transfer money, Hang lied that she had made a deposit, was currently short of 1.5 billion VND, and asked Ms. PTMH to help borrow. On April 27, 2022, Ms. PTMH transferred 1.4 billion VND to Hang. The total amount of money Au Thi Thanh Hang defrauded and appropriated from Ms. PTMH was 7.1 billion VND.

The beauty confessed her guilt.

At the end of November 2022, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance trial to try defendant Au Thi Thanh Hang on the charges of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Crime of using fake seals or documents of agencies and organizations", as prescribed in Point a, Clause 4, Article 174; Point b, Clause 3, Article 341 of the Penal Code.

It is known that Hang was born the youngest child in the family. With her natural beauty and sharp tongue, Hang dropped out of school to start a business after finishing high school. However, with no experience in the business world, Hang returned after a few years of wandering and decided to get married. She thought that family life would help her mature, but with impulsive thinking and a different lifestyle, Hang left after marriage.

In her spare time, wanting to make money online, Hang joined many gambling and virtual investment sites. Only when she could not afford to pay did Hang think of a way to create a cover to attract investment.

At the trial, when the court asked why Hang had cheated Ms. PTMH 4 or 5 times, Hang just bowed her head and mumbled that she was in too much debt at that time so she wanted to cheat as much money as possible. It is known that as soon as she was arrested, Hang persuaded her family to pay Ms. PTMH 350 million VND to ask for... reconciliation.

Before the People's Court, Au Thi Thanh Hang confessed to all her crimes. Based on the details of the case, the People's Court sentenced defendant Au Thi Thanh Hang to life imprisonment for the crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Using fake seals or documents of agencies and organizations". At the same time, the defendant was required to return 6.8 billion VND to the victim.