The tenant's fake gold scam and the billion-dollar fraud.
Having fallen into gambling addiction, Le Thi Nu orchestrated an elaborate scheme to defraud a kind landlord couple. Building on their close relationship after renting a room for some time, Nu began her plan by bringing fake gold to them for safekeeping. Shortly afterward, she used this fake gold, along with other counterfeit gold, as collateral to borrow money, ultimately defrauding them of nearly 2.1 billion VND.
19 times using fake gold as collateral to borrow real money.
Le Thi Nu (born in 1976, from Ha Tinh province), residing in Van Hoi commune, Ninh Giang district (Hai Duong province), did not have a stable job. After changing rented accommodations several times, in August 2019, Nu moved into the house of Ms. Ho Thi C. (born in 1953, residing in Hung Binh ward, Vinh City) to rent a room. During her stay, Nu frequently visited and showed concern for Ms. C.
After spending some time together and becoming familiar with each other, on August 19, 2020, Nữ brought a bag containing many gold necklaces, bracelets, bangles, and rings to Mrs. C., asking her to keep them for her, claiming that "my rented room doesn't have a place to store them, and I'm afraid they'll get lost." However, the landlady refused, fearing she might be "claiming real gold when she's giving fake gold."
Two days later, when Mrs. C. went to the market, leaving only her hard-of-hearing husband at home, Nữ again took the gold and asked him to keep it for her. Out of politeness, he kept the gold, but when his wife returned from the market, the husband recounted the incident. At this point, Mrs. C. continued to question whether the gold was real or fake, to which Nữ replied to the landlords: "There's no fake gold!" After that, Mrs. C. and her husband said nothing more and kept the gold for the woman renting the room.
About a month later, Le Thi Nu approached Mrs. C. and her husband, asking to borrow 300 million VND to invest in land trading. Nu promised to pay an interest rate of 13% per month and used the gold they had previously deposited as collateral. Initially, Mrs. C. disagreed, but after listening to Nu's persuasive words, she agreed and withdrew 300 million VND from the bank to lend to Nu.
Later, Le Thi Nu continued to borrow money from Mrs. C. and her husband many times. Each time she borrowed, Nu bought fake gold, packaged and sealed it, and then brought it to Mrs. C.'s house as collateral. Sometimes, to avoid suspicion, Nu lied to Mrs. C., saying the gold belonged to someone else and that she had asked them to pawn it for a loan.
After lending money to Le Thi Nu 19 times without receiving any interest payments, the homeowners asked Nu to take the gold she had mortgaged to a gold shop to verify its authenticity. Initially, Nu pretended she had done nothing wrong and confidently went with Mrs. C. to the gold shop. However, she later admitted that the gold was fake, purchased from markets in Vinh City.
The investigating agency determined that, using the above method, from October 7, 2020 to March 19, 2023, Le Thi Nu defrauded the couple, Ms. Ho Thi C. and her husband, of nearly 2.1 billion VND. Subsequently, the landlords repeatedly requested the woman to return the money she had defrauded, but to date, she has only repaid 90 million VND. For this crime, Le Thi Nu was prosecuted and brought to trial for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property. Before the court, the defendant initially gave evasive answers, blaming her low level of education to justify her criminal actions. After being reminded by the panel of judges, the defendant admitted to using fake gold to fraudulently obtain real money from the landlords.
The woman explained that because her husband was working abroad, she and her children rented a room at Mrs. C.'s house. During their stay, they noticed that the elderly landlords were kind and gentle, so they approached them to carry out their fraudulent activities.
During the process of using the fake gold as collateral, the defendant employed various tricks. Initially, she asked to borrow money for real estate investment. Later, she lied, claiming the gold belonged to a friend who needed it as collateral for a loan. Nữ's purpose was to avoid arousing suspicion from Mrs. C. and her husband.
The female defendant spent the money obtained through fraud and gambled it away. Furthermore, she confessed to using the 200 million VND obtained through fraud to obtain the land title deed for a plot of land that she and her husband had previously mortgaged to the bank to borrow money for her husband's overseas employment. After the fraud was discovered, she used the land title deed to deduct the debt from the victim's account. However, the transfer of ownership of the land has not yet been completed because her husband is working abroad.
Attending the trial as the victims, Mrs. C. and her husband stated that they never imagined their kindness would be exploited by their tenant. Mrs. C. recounted that initially, when Nữ first came to live with them, out of sympathy for Nữ raising her child alone while her husband was away, they always treated her well. They even babysat for her and helped with daily chores. However, the landlords never suspected that Nữ had approached them with malicious intent, subsequently committing fraud for many years. Therefore, when they learned the truth, they were extremely shocked.
The victims also stated that out of the 19 times they lent money to Nu, the defendant only paid interest twice as initially promised. On the remaining occasions, the defendant cited various excuses to delay and avoid paying interest. Each time she brought gold over, Nu would present numerous reasons and recount her hardships to ask for their help. Out of compassion and excessive trust, the landlords repeatedly gave Nu money. It wasn't until the total amount given to Nu reached nearly 2.1 billion VND that they discovered their tenant's fraudulent behavior.
At the trial, the couple demanded that the defendant return all the money that had been stolen so that they could stabilize their lives and their mental well-being. The defendant's actions had disrupted their family life, and the victims, already elderly and in poor health, had suffered a great shock.
Meeting the landlords again at the trial, the defendant offered her apologies. The female defendant admitted that she was immoral for committing such an act, even though the couple had previously helped her and her child unconditionally.
During the trial, the judge also reminded the defendant of his wrongdoing and violations of the law. The defendant, despite being healthy, refused to work to earn a living and instead exploited the kindness of an elderly couple, carrying out a sophisticated scam. "The defendant should live by the law, to set an example for his children," the judge advised the defendant.
The court determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society and violated the law. The defendant infringed upon the property rights of others, which are protected by law. The defendant's criminal act significantly affected public order and the lives of the people, therefore a severe sentence is necessary to deter and educate the defendant.
After a comprehensive review of the case, the court sentenced the defendant Le Thi Nu to 16 years in prison for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property. Regarding the civil aspect, the court ordered the defendant to fully compensate the victim.
After exploiting the trust and kindness of the landlord couple 19 times to commit fraud, the defendant finally faced legal consequences and the price of his deceit. The case not only closed a sophisticated series of scams but also served as a wake-up call: kindness, if not accompanied by caution, can become a trap for the giver. In social relationships, especially those involving money and property, caution is always necessary to protect oneself.
