Two fraudsters sentenced to 30 years in prison for scamming people out of 1 billion VND by promising to "fix" court cases.
Trusting the words of a "fellow inmate" with extensive connections who could arrange for a suspended sentence, the victim's family transferred a total of 1 billion VND hoping for a reduced sentence. As a result, no suspended sentence was granted, the money was lost, and the two scammers received a combined 30 years in prison.
Scamming people out of 1 billion VND by promising to "fix" legal cases.
Tran Hai (born in 1970), residing in Da Nang city, and Luu Xuan Tam (born in 1979, from Nghe An province), living in Dong Nai province, knew each other through social connections. Lacking stable employment, they conspired to find defendants and accused persons in need of reduced sentences, meeting with them and exploiting their lack of knowledge to promise suspended sentences, ultimately profiting together.
Around December 2022, Luu Xuan Tam was detained at the Nghe An Provincial Police Detention Center for fraud and misappropriation of property. At that time, Luong Van Q. (residing in Vinh Phu ward, Nghe An) was also detained for gambling, so the two knew each other.
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In mid-March 2023, due to a change in the preventive measure (release on bail), the two met again. At this time, Tam introduced himself to Mr. Q., saying that he had received the change in the preventive measure because he knew a man named Hai, who worked at the Investigation Agency of the Supreme People's Procuracy, and that he was asking Hai to help him get a suspended sentence. Trusting Tam's extensive connections, Mr. Q. contacted him to help secure a suspended sentence. Subsequently, Tam contacted Tran Hai to ask him to help Mr. Q., and Hai quoted a price of 700 million VND.
On May 14, 2023, Tam requested Mr. Q. to transfer 20 million VND to "receive people sent by Mr. Hai." After receiving the money, Tam used it to pay off personal debts. Three days later, Tam requested Mr. Q. to transfer 700 million VND to "bribe officials to drop the case." Because he didn't have enough money, Mr. Q. transferred 250 million VND to Tam's bank account with the description "transferring money for Mr. Tam to request a suspended sentence." Tam then transferred this money to Hai. Subsequently, on May 18-19, 2023, Mr. Q. transferred 450 million VND to Tam. Upon receiving this money, Tam gave Hai 400 million VND and kept 50 million VND for himself.
Despite having already received the full 700 million VND from the victim as initially agreed, Tran Hai fabricated additional reasons to "extort more money." At this point, Tran Hai told Tam that because the case involved many people, in order to secure a suspended sentence for Q., they needed more money to bribe the accomplices. Therefore, Tran Hai instructed Tam to take an additional 300 million VND from Q.
After negotiations, Q. gave Tam 260 million VND. Tam transferred 110 million VND to Hai and gave 80 million VND to another person as instructed by Hai, using the remaining amount for personal expenses. The "costs" for bribing officials didn't stop there; on June 11, 2023, at Tam's request, Q. transferred another 20 million VND to him.
The investigating agency determined that the total amount of money Mr. Q. transferred to Tam to help him get the case dismissed was 1 billion VND.
Despite spending billions of dong to bribe people to "fix the case," on June 22, 2023, Luong Van Q. was sentenced to 4 years in prison by the People's Court of Vinh City (formerly) for the crime of "Gambling." Knowing he had been deceived by Tam, Mr. Q. reported Tam and Tran Hai's actions to the police.
For the aforementioned crimes, Luu Xuan Tam and Tran Hai were prosecuted and brought to trial for "Fraudulent appropriation of property." At the trial, both defendants admitted their crimes. Defendant Tam confessed that, to gain Mr. Q.'s trust in him regarding the acquittal, he provided information about a person named Hai, an official of the Supreme People's Procuracy, but included identifying characteristics (voice) and a phone number of Tran Hai. Thanks to this, he deceived the victim into paying for the acquittal, appropriating a large sum of money.
After the incident was discovered, Tran Hai proactively returned some of the money to the victim. Meanwhile, Luu Xuan Tam has not yet rectified the situation. This defendant stated that he is in difficult circumstances and therefore unable to repay the debt. Furthermore, he had just received a 4-year prison sentence for fraud, so his "current situation is very difficult."
Losing money, disillusionment, and adding to one's guilt.
Attending the trial as a person with related rights and obligations, Mr. Q.'s wife recounted how Tam approached her and tried to deceive her into giving him a chance to drop the case. She stated that when she heard her husband talk about a friend he met during his detention who had committed fraud, she felt uneasy and worried about being deceived. However, the defendant Tam reassured the couple by lying that he had been arrested for a different crime. He then provided false information, leading the couple to believe him.
According to the victim's family, Tam repeatedly gave reasons to request money transfers ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dong. "Tam led us on a scam, increasing the amount from 700 million dong to 1 billion dong," the victim's wife tearfully stated in court. To raise that amount, the family had to scramble everywhere, even pawning two mobile phones and borrowing 20 million dong to give to "Hai's people to handle the matter." "But after transferring the money to Tam, we had someone check and only then realized we had been scammed because there is no one named Tran Hai at the Supreme People's Procuracy," the victim's wife added.
The woman then added that when the court sentenced her husband to 4 years in prison for "gambling," the family realized they had been cheated and demanded that Tam return the money. However, he always found ways to evade them. When the family requested to see Hai, Tam refused. After waiting a year without getting their money back, they filed a complaint with the police.
At the trial, the panel of judges reminded the public about the consequences of a lack of legal knowledge. It's evident that those who scam people by promising to "fix" legal cases often exploit the anxiety and fear of the families of defendants and those directly involved in legal violations to seize their assets. Typically, they will claim to have "connections" with leaders or officials who can influence the sentencing or "rescue" of the defendant. These promises, though baseless, effectively target the psychology of the defendant's family, especially in serious cases...
The consequences of these scams extend beyond financial losses; they also inflict significant emotional and legal damage on the victims' families. When fraud is discovered, not only are the recipients prosecuted, but the givers may also face criminal charges for intentionally attempting to influence the legal process.
In this case, the court determined that the defendants' actions were dangerous to society, directly infringing upon the property rights of others protected by law, and causing social disorder and insecurity. After considering the role of each defendant in the case, the court sentenced Luu Xuan Tam to 14 years in prison. Combining this with the previous sentence for fraud and appropriation of property handed down in the trial at the end of 2023, the defendant must serve a total of 18 years in prison. For the same crime of fraud and appropriation of property, defendant Tran Hai received a 12-year prison sentence.
