Nghe An: Arrested a fraudster who appropriated tens of billions of dong through land investment and sale

On November 15, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police announced that it had prosecuted and issued an arrest warrant for Le Van Binh (born in 1970), residing in Nghi Hoa Ward, Cua Lo Town, former Captain of the Urban Order Management Team of Cua Lo Town (former Chairman of Nghi Hoa Ward People's Committee from 2005 to 2009; former Party Secretary, Chairman of Nghi Hoa Ward People's Committee from 2009 to 2015) for the crime of“Fraudulent appropriation of property”.

Subject Le Van Binh. Photo: Hong Ngoc

"Trick" to mobilize capital, commit to profit

Recently, regarding the real estate sector, the Nghe An Provincial Police Investigation Agency has received many criminal complaints from people about subjects using the trick of pooling capital to invest in buying and selling land and then defrauding and appropriating property.

The subjects took advantage of the victims' desire to make quick money by approaching and informing them that they knew of plots of land with good locations and high profitability, then persuaded and called on the victims to contribute capital to invest in real estate with a commitment to certain profits. Trusting the subjects, many people contributed capital without knowing that this was just a trap set by the subjects to defraud and appropriate property. Le Van Binh is also one of such subjects.

Authorities read the warrant to prosecute the case and issued an arrest warrant for Le Van Binh. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Accordingly, Binh approached, persuaded, and called on many people to pool capital with the reason of investing in land in localities in Cua Lo town, Nghi Loc district, and Vinh city with an amount of tens of billions of VND. It is worth mentioning that the information about the land plots that Binh provided to call for investors to contribute capital is not true, and Binh did not participate in buying and selling land plots in the above localities.

Upon receiving the report, under the direct direction of the Provincial Police Department, the Chief of the Provincial Police Investigation Agency, the Criminal Police Department entered the investigation. During the investigation, the police encountered many difficulties, but with the spirit of suppressing and attacking criminals to the end, after collecting sufficient evidence, the Criminal Police Department promptly summoned and successfully arrested the subject Le Van Binh.

Take money from later contributors to pay earlier contributors

At the police station, Binh confessed that he started participating in land buying and selling activities since 2017. Because he participated with many people and many transactions, he could not control the money, leading to losses. By early 2021, the real estate market showed signs of slowing down, combined with the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic. Many people who contributed capital with Binh simultaneously demanded their investment money back, causing Binh to come up with a trick to use the cover of the Captain of the Urban Order Management Team of Cua Lo town to call for investors to contribute capital and then defraud and appropriate property. The money from people who called later was used by Binh to pay the previous investors.

Initially, the police agency proved that, with the above tricks, from January to April 2021, Le Van Binh called for, received joint capital contributions and defrauded 4 victims in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces with a total amount of nearly 29 billion VND.

Authorities searched the residence of Le Van Binh. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Searching Le Van Binh’s residence, the police seized many documents related to the agreement and commitment to buy and sell land between the subject and the victims. The authorities also froze two bank accounts of Le Van Binh to serve the investigation process.

The Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province Police announced that anyone who is a victim of Le Van Binh should go to the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Province Police to report and resolve according to the provisions of law./.