Cheated over 17 billion VND from 5 people who wanted to buy "cheap" phone cards

On the afternoon of February 5, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City opened a first-instance trial and sentenced defendant Tran Quoc Bao (born in 1985, former Director of Southern Information Technology and Telecommunications Company) to 20 years in prison for fraud and property appropriation.

According to the indictment, Bao raised capital to sell phone cards using many tricks to appropriate money from the victims. After finding a source of phone cards, Bao established the Southern Information and Telecommunications Company to sell directly at the company.

In addition, Bao asked his mother in the countryside to help him find business contacts. Taking advantage of the trust of his acquaintances, Bao lied to his friends that he and his friends worked for large telecommunications corporations such as Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone, so he could buy phone cards at cheap prices.

In fact, since March 2011, Bao bought phone cards at the right price but resold them to others at 4% to 6.5% cheaper to attract more buyers. To avoid exposing his scheme, Bao took money from later customers and then bought phone cards to give to previous customers in the method of "using customers to support customers".

At the end of 2011, the Go Vap District Tax Department inspected and discovered that the company had ceased operations at the business address, and Bao had also disappeared from his residence. After a long period of not being able to contact Bao, 5 people who were scammed out of more than 17 billion VND for purchasing mobile phone scratch cards went to the police to report.

On December 10, 2016, the Department of Investigation Police on Economic Crimes and Corruption - Ho Chi Minh City Police arrested Bao while he was hiding in Da Nang.

At the trial, defendant Bao admitted all his crimes and asked for leniency: "I hope the court will give him a light sentence so that he can soon return home to take care of his elderly mother and young children."

However, the three victims present at court all requested the court to try this defendant according to the law.

"I trusted him so I gave him all my savings. I also collected money from my family members to give to Bao. My uncle worked as a worker and saved all his assets, but then became seriously ill and died when he found out that Bao had cheated him out of his money. I hope the court will give him a severe sentence to restore justice" - One victim requested.

After deliberation, the panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society and that the crime had been committed over a long period of time. However, the defendant had honestly confessed that he had a good personal history, so they sentenced him to 20 years in prison./.