The scam perpetrated by a 'hot girl' addicted to gambling.
Despite having a stable job with a decent income, Le Thi Hien had a gambling addiction. To fund her online gambling, Hien used various deceptive tactics to defraud and embezzle over 14.5 billion VND from numerous people. The victims fell for her promises of high profits from joint ventures providing financial verification services, depositing funds to open study abroad companies, and arranging overseas employment.
From Head of Company Representative Office to Fraudster
Le Thi Hien (33 years old) was born in Anh Son district (Nghe An province). After graduating from high school, Hien continued her studies and chose Vinh city as her place of work. She was formerly the head of the representative office of a company specializing in organizing overseas study programs, with a branch in Nghe An. Despite having a stable job and a decent income, she had a gambling addiction. To fund her gambling habit, Hien devised a plan to defraud many people.
Between December 2022 and June 2023, Hien provided false information such as soliciting money for financial verification services, depositing funds to open a study abroad company, receiving money for sending people abroad for work or travel, etc., but never fulfilling these promises in order to embezzle money. Hien's modus operandi was to create a fake Zalo account of a manager of a company specializing in overseas labor and study abroad in Hanoi, messaging other Zalo accounts of hers, claiming to be collaborating with this company to build trust. She then took screenshots of these exchanges and sent them to her target victims. The person most defrauded through this method was the couple Vo MT (residing in Vinh City).
Le Thi Hien met Mr. T. through a business relationship. In December 2022, Hien met and discussed with Mr. T. the possibility of jointly investing in a service to provide "financial proof" for clients needing assistance with studying abroad, tourism, or overseas employment. Hien promised very high daily profits and the flexibility to return the principal when Mr. T. needed it.
Enticed by the attractive offer and text messages suggesting Hien was collaborating with a large company in Hanoi (which Hien herself drafted and screenshotted before sending them to Mr. T.), the man believed her. Over a period of more than five months (from January to June 2023), Mr. T. and his wife transferred a total of over 31 billion VND to Le Thi Hien. Afterward, Mr. T. and his wife withdrew over 19 billion VND and received over 2.6 billion VND in profit from Hien.
After receiving money from Mr. and Mrs. T., Hien did not fulfill her commitment but instead spent the money and transferred it to a man named Hoang (whose identity is unknown) to participate in gambling on a website.http://sodo368.comThe man only realized he had been scammed after contributing money to a business venture and Hien delaying repayment. After verifying and investigating, Mr. T. realized he had been cheated and filed a complaint against Hien with the police.
Scamming billions of dong from classmates.
Not only did Le Thi Hien deceive strangers, she also defrauded her classmates. Specifically, upon learning that Nguyen Duc Tan (the victim's name has been changed, from Binh Son commune, Anh Son district - a high school classmate), who was working in South Korea, intended to return to Vietnam, Hien discussed the matter with him and persuaded him to invest in a study abroad consulting company with the aim of sending people to work overseas.
During discussions about establishing a company with his friend, Hien informed him that to obtain a license to operate an overseas study consulting service, a minimum deposit of 1.5 billion VND was required, and he was currently short 500 million VND. Hien said that if Tan paid the above amount, he would receive a monthly profit of 10 million VND. Trusting his classmate, Tan transferred 500 million VND to Hien.
After receiving the money, Hien gambled it away. However, to avoid suspicion and build trust, Hien paid Tan the profits for six months. Then, Hien continued to persuade him to contribute money for a "financial proof" service. Because he trusted her and saw that Hien paid him the profits for the partnership, Tan transferred nearly 3.3 billion VND to her. Tan later withdrew a portion of the money and also received his profits from Hien. Therefore, the investigating agency determined that the total amount of money Le Thi Hien defrauded her high school classmate was over 2.8 billion VND.
Besides the above tactics, because she had previously worked as the head of a representative office for a company involved in sending people abroad for work, Hien deceived people seeking overseas employment. She promised to handle the procedures for those intending to work or travel to South Korea. Once the victims trusted her, Hien would first request a deposit. Then, she would ask for the remaining amount. Upon receiving the money, Hien would issue a receipt and a written commitment that a visa to South Korea would be issued within 10 to 15 days. However, she gambled away all the money she took from the victims online without completing any of the agreed-upon procedures.
After realizing they had been scammed, the victims filed complaints against Le Thi Hien with the police. On November 7, 2023, Hien was arrested and detained by the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nghe An Provincial Police. The investigating agency determined that the total amount of money Hien defrauded from the victims was over 14.5 billion VND.
Day of reckoning
For the above actions, Le Thi Hien was prosecuted and brought to trial for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". At the recent trial at the Nghe An Provincial People's Court, the defendant admitted to the crime.
The defendant confessed to having worked in the field of sending people abroad, which allowed him to approach many victims to carry out fraudulent activities. Initially, to gain the victims' trust, the defendant paid high and timely profits. As the debt grew, the defendant approached more victims to defraud and embezzle money.
The defendant confessed that the billions of dong obtained through fraud were spent on personal expenses and transferred to a man named Hoang for online gambling. However, Hien did not know this person's specific address. Furthermore, according to the investigating agency, the website where Hien transferred money for gambling had its server located abroad. Therefore, the investigation and verification process faced many difficulties.
At the trial, the defendant stated that he acted alone in defrauding the victims, without any assistance. He admitted to being unable to repay the debts and apologized to the victims.
The victims who attended the trial all demanded that the defendant return their money. They explained that their trust in the defendant had led to significant financial losses, negatively impacted their lives, and even caused family discord in many cases.
The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society, defrauding many people and causing public alarm. The defendant's crime had aggravating circumstances, namely committing the crime two or more times and defrauding a large amount of money. Considering all aspects of the case, the court sentenced Le Thi Hien to life imprisonment for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
This is a fitting sentence for the defendant, and it also serves as a cautionary lesson for many people, because high-return investment schemes often carry significant risks, and people need to be vigilant to avoid falling into the traps of scammers.
