Scammers selling cheap fertilizer online defrauded victims of over 1.6 billion VND.
Having suffered business losses and accumulated massive debts, Le Nhat Anh established a "phantom" company, advertised cheap fertilizers for sale on social media, fabricated fake messages to gain trust, and then defrauded numerous dealers of over 1.6 billion VND.
On February 11th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendant Le Nhat Anh (30 years old, residing in Tuyen Binh commune, Tay Ninh province) on the charge of "Fraudulent appropriation of property.
According to the indictment, Le Nhat Anh was engaged in the agricultural fertilizer business. To find customers, Anh used multiple Facebook accounts to post information about buying and selling fertilizers and nitrogen fertilizers in various groups, introducing companies that were looking for distributors of imported potassium, NPK, and high-grade phosphate fertilizers.
Around August 2023, due to business losses, accumulating debts to many people, and becoming unable to repay them, Anh conceived the idea of defrauding dealers to obtain money to pay off his debts.
To gain trust, the defendant provided false information about having a source of cheap goods, claiming that the goods were being stockpiled at the port. He created Zalo accounts, changed the names to those of fertilizer supply companies, and then fabricated fake messages about buying and selling. These screenshots were sent to customers to prove that the goods were real.
He demanded that customers who wanted to buy at a price lower than the market rate transfer 100% of the money in advance, and also gave the reason that if the transfer was delayed, the price would increase in order to pressure them into paying.
Trusting them, many dealers transferred money but did not receive the goods. When their requests for refunds were unsuccessful, the victims reported the matter to the police.
Investigators determined that Le Nhat Anh had embezzled over 1.6 billion VND from three victims in Nghe An and Hung Yen provinces. One dealer in Nghe An was defrauded of 900 million VND.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to all the crimes, confessing to using the embezzled money to pay off debts and for personal expenses.
The court sentenced Le Nhat Anh to 14 years in prison and ordered him to return all the money he had embezzled to the victims.
