'Exposing' many cases of renting cars for mortgage in Nghe An

Among many cases related to renting cars and then pawning them in the province that have been brought to trial by the People's Court of Nghe An province, we can mention the first instance criminal trial of defendant Dang Anh Tuan (born 1985), residing in Trung Phuc Cuong commune, Nam Dan district, for the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property" which took place on July 27.

Dang Anh Tuan at the trial. Photo: Kim Long

According to the indictment, on February 10, 2020, because he needed a vehicle to trade wood, Tuan went to a company in Vinh City, met the director named L. and rented a Ford Ranger pickup truck (valued at 550 million VND) to go to Dak Nong. The two parties signed a car rental contract with the following content: Rental period of 20 days, price of 800,000 VND/day.

On February 29, the car rental period expired, Mr. L. called Tuan to return the car and pay the rent. Due to business losses and not having enough money to pay, Tuan asked for a 1-month extension and the car rental owner agreed. During this time, because he wanted money to buy wood to pay off the debt, Tuan mortgaged the car to a person named A. for 129 million VND, for a period of 1 month.

When it was time to pay Mr. A. and Mr. L. repeatedly asked him to return the car and the rental fee, Tuan came up with the idea of ​​pawning the car to someone else. On May 10, through Mr. A., Dang Anh Tuan lied and pawned the car to Ms. H. to get 150 million VND. Tuan used most of the money to pay off the car loan debt, and spent the rest on personal expenses. When the due date came but he was unable to pay the debt, Tuan ran away. Mr. L. then filed a complaint against Dang Anh Tuan's actions with the police.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. Tuan said that because he lost money in the timber business, he decided to pawn the car to get money, but he did not intend to rent the car in the first place. The jury found that the defendant's actions were illegal and sentenced Dang Anh Tuan to 8 years in prison.

A car rental location in Vinh City. Photo courtesy: Quang An

It can be seen that, stemming from the needs of the people, self-drive car rental establishments are springing up more and more. According to incomplete statistics, Vinh City alone has over 20 self-drive car rental establishments. However, many establishments providing this type of service are still quite subjective, pay little attention to the customer's background, and have loose management. Therefore, it has created loopholes for bad guys to take advantage of car rental for pawning, which is increasingly complicated and sophisticated.

According to the owner of a car rental business, for regular customers, the car rental procedure is simple, but for new customers, when coming to rent a self-drive car, the renter usually leaves their ID card or household registration book, motorbike or some money as a deposit.

However, in reality, this does not prevent risks when the above documents can be fake, or the property, the amount of money left is nothing compared to the value of the car. It is worth mentioning that, helping the subjects after renting a car to pawn, mortgage, is that currently at many pawn shops, the mortgage procedures are somewhat lenient, sometimes without knowing the origin of the property but only through self-valuation and then lending...

Self-drive car rental price at a facility in Vinh City. Photo: Quang An

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Than - Head of the Criminal Police Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) said: Recovering assets in these cases is not without difficulties, because most of the cars have had their GPS removed, mortgaged in many places or sold.

For example, the project arrested 4 subjects, seized 6 cars, 12 types of fake documents including ID cards, car registration, car driving licenses... in early September 2021.

The investigation showed that since the end of April 2021, the above subjects discussed and agreed to commit fraud and appropriate property by going online to buy fake identity documents to rent self-driving cars. They pretended to be directors of construction enterprises, used fake documents including ID cards, driver's licenses, and then brought them to self-driving car businesses in Vinh City and Quynh Luu District to make car rental contracts.

After renting the car, the subjects continued to buy and use fake documents such as car registration, inspection certificate, all in the names of the subjects to pawn and sell at pawn shops and households in Nghe An, Lang Son, Hai Duong provinces, each car the subjects sold, pawned from 200 million VND to 600 million VND.

"This is a criminal gang operating with sophisticated methods and a large area, causing many difficulties for the investigation. However, the unit has focused its forces to successfully fight the case, and has recovered 6 cars of various types, proving that the subjects have committed fraud and appropriated property worth more than 3 billion VND" - Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Than said.

The project arrested 4 suspects, seized 6 cars, 12 types of fake documents including ID cards, car registration, car driving licenses... in early September 2021. Photo: Duc Vu

Thus, it can be seen that although renting a car and then pawning it is not a new trick, many businesses still fall into the trap. Therefore, in order to not become the next victims, businesses that rent self-drive cars must raise their vigilance.

First, it is necessary to clearly identify the background of the car renter along with the purpose, usage plan, schedule, and not hand over the car to suspicious subjects. The rented vehicle must be secured by a deposit of equal value, accompanied by the necessary documents, and a contract binding the rights and obligations between the parties according to the law.

More specifically, it is necessary to sign a rental contract at a notary office, where there is a professional to check personal documents as well as clearly show the confirmation of both parties in the contract content. At the same time, along with installing a journey monitor on the vehicle, during the rental process, the car owner needs to regularly exchange information with the renter to know the current status of the vehicle. If there are signs of fraud to appropriate property, the car owner must promptly report to the nearest police agency to prevent and handle according to the provisions of law.

Depending on the behavior, nature, and severity of the crime, the person who rents a car and then pawns it can be prosecuted for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" (Article 174, Penal Code) or the crime of "Abuse of trust to appropriate property" (Article 175, Penal Code). The means of appropriation of property in these two crimes are completely different. The penalty prescribed for fraud is more severe than that for the crime of abuse of trust to appropriate property.