Forging citizen identification and bank accounts to commit fraud

On September 12, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial of defendant Nguyen Tat Thang (born in 1988), residing in Tam Quang commune, Tuong Duong district, for the crimes of: Fraudulent appropriation of property; Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations; Use of fake documents of agencies and organizations; Illegal trading of information about bank accounts.

The defendants: Nguyen Van Tuan (born in 1990, residing in Tam Quang commune), Phung Anh Tuan (born in 1990, residing in Thua Thien Hue province), Nguyen Minh Ha (born in 1992, residing in Bac Ninh province) were tried for the crime of Forging documents of agencies and organizations.

The defendants: Hoang Thai Bao (born in 1996, residing in Thai Nguyen province), Pham Do Anh Tuan (born in 1988, residing in Gia Lai province), La Xuan Thien (born in 1997, residing in Thanh Hoa province) were tried for the crime of illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts.

Defendant Le Van Thang (born 2000, residing in Thua Thien Hue province) was tried for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property.

According to the indictment, because he wanted money to spend, from the beginning of 2023 to December 2023, Nguyen Tat Thang hired Nguyen Minh Ha to forge 31 citizen identification cards to open 117 Techcombank bank accounts. Ha was paid 34 million VND by Thang.

Then, Nguyen Tat Thang hired Le Van Thang to use the referral code from the bank account that Thang was using and then used the Vouchers - promotional programs to receive bonuses received to pay for electricity and water bills, thereby appropriating more than 17 million VND from Techcombank. Of which, Le Van Thang, an accomplice of Nguyen Tat Thang, appropriated nearly 13 million VND.

In addition, Nguyen Tat Thang also hired Nguyen Van Tuan to forge 1,740 citizen identification cards and open 527 Vietinbank accounts for a fee of nearly 39 million VND.

Thang hired Phung Anh Tuan to forge 1,195 citizen identification cards, then opened 1,036 bank accounts for a fee of 40 million VND.

After opening 2,232 Viettinbank bank account information, Nguyen Tat Thang and Pham Do Anh Tuan sold them to Hoang Thai Bao for 50,000 VND/1 account/1 phone SIM card, through La Xuan Thien as an intermediary to make money transactions.

The investigation agency determined that the total amount of money the subjects sold bank account information for was more than 111 million VND. Of which, Thien earned 1.3 million VND; Nguyen Tat Thang illegally earned more than 99 million VND; Bao illegally earned more than 22 million VND, and Pham Do Anh Tuan illegally earned more than 6.7 million VND.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. During the investigation, Techcombank did not request the defendants to pay civil compensation.

After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the panel sentenced defendant Nguyen Tat Thang to 9 months in prison for Fraudulent appropriation of property, 42 months in prison for Forging documents of agencies and organizations, 39 months in prison for Using forged documents of agencies and organizations, and 30 months in prison for Illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts. The total sentence for this defendant is 10 years in prison.

For the group of defendants who committed the crime of Forging documents of agencies and organizations, the People's Court sentenced defendant Nguyen Van Tuan to 40 months in prison; the two defendants Nguyen Minh Ha and Phung Anh Tuan received sentences of 39 months in prison.

For the group of defendants who committed the crime of Illegally trading information about bank accounts, the court sentenced Hoang Thai Bao to 39 months in prison, Pham Do Anh Tuan to 30 months in prison, and La Xuan Thien to 24 months in prison.

Defendant Le Van Thang was sentenced to 6 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property.