Nghe An: Warning about using fake 'red books' to commit fraud

Using fake "red books" to scam

On November 8, the Investigation Police Department of Yen Thanh District Police announced that they were temporarily detaining Le Xuan The (born in 1995), residing in Tang Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District, to investigate the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Accordingly, due to not having money to spend and gamble, The came up with the idea of ​​​​setting up aforging documents, including the land use rights certificate, then pawn it at a pawn shop or mortgage it to an acquaintance to appropriate the property.

Police officers of Yen Thanh district check fake documents as evidence in the case related to Le Xuan The. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Thinking is doing, in July 2022, Le Xuan The used the Facebook account "The Binh" to search and connect on social networks with the intention of making fake land use right certificates. After agreeing on the price, after 5 days of "ordering", The received the fake land use right certificate and then mortgaged this document to an acquaintance, Mr. L.D.B. (born in 1975), residing in Xuan Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district, for 200 million VND. In August 2022, with the above trick, after receiving the fake land use right certificate ordered online, The used this document to contact a resident in Son Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district to mortgage for a loan of 300 million VND, then appropriated the entire amount.

The behavior of The could not escape the eyes of the authorities. At 5:00 p.m. on November 2, 2022, the Investigation Department of Yen Thanh District Police arrested Le Xuan The for "Fraudulent appropriation of property". At the police station, faced with undeniable evidence, Le Xuan The bowed his head and admitted his guilt.

Previously, on May 11, 2022, the Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police arrested Au Thi Thanh Hang (born in 1996), residing in Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city, for fraud, property appropriation, confiscation and temporary detention of 2 land use right certificates under the name of Au Thi Thanh Hang (forged by Hang), 1 deposit contract on land transfer, 1 Mercedes car and many documents related to real estate business activities.

Evidence of the case related to suspect Au Thi Thanh Hang. Photo: Hong Ngoc

At the police station, Hang initially confessed that because she saw that recently in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, land was "hot", many people were investing and doing real estate business, so Hang created for herself a "cover" as a successful real estate businessman to call for capital from investors. To create trust and defraud, appropriate property with a large amount of money, Hang made a land purchase and sale deposit contract herself, forged the land use right certificate and then transferred it to those who invested in land with her.

With the above tricks, the police initially determined that from January 2022 to present, Au Thi Thanh Hang has used 2 fake land use right certificates to defraud Ms. PTMH (born in 1991), residing in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, of nearly 8 billion VND.

Raise vigilance

The above are just two of many cases related to the act of forging land use right certificates to defraud and appropriate property. The above reality stems from the fact that it is not difficult to find addresses to make fake documents, because currently many facebook pages, zalo... openly accept "making pink books", "making red books" with a commitment to be 100% similar to the real version. According to Mr. Le Tuan Anh - notary of Vinh Notary Office: "Currently, fake documents appear a lot and many cases have been discovered at notary offices. Especially land use right certificates, if the notary has little experience, it will be difficult to distinguish between real and fake because the forgery is very sophisticated".

Yen Thanh District Police work with suspect Le Xuan The. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Regarding this issue, the Vinh City Land Registration Office Branch (Nghe An Province Land Registration Office) has also warned about the continuous occurrence of falsification of land use right certificates and house ownership certificates to conduct real estate transactions to appropriate property. Accordingly, the Vinh City Land Registration Office Branch recommends that transferees of land use rights and house ownership rights should find out some information related to the transferred land plot and house. That is, whether the land use right certificate and house ownership certificate are legal or not (whether they have been falsified or have been decided to cancel or not). Are the current location, size, and area of ​​the land plot consistent with the certificate or not? Dispute status at the land plot; whether any part (or all) of the land plot has been revoked or not, whether there have been changes in planning related to the land plot or not. The transferee can directly contact the People's Committee of the ward or commune where the land is located or the Branch of the Vinh City Land Registration Office for information.

It can be seen that currently, the mortgage of assets, joint investment in real estate, as well as in many localities in the province, especially in Vinh city and coastal localities, suburban areas of Vinh city such as Nghi Loc district, Cua Lo town, Hoang Mai town, Dien Chau district, the situation of transferring land use rights, apartment ownership rights is happening a lot. In which, those who mortgage assets, joint investment in real estate, receive transfers... do not carefully research information related to land use right certificates, house ownership rights... That is the loophole for subjects to take advantage of to forge land use right certificates to defraud and appropriate property.

Police work with suspect Au Thi Thanh Hang. Photo: Hong Ngoc

Therefore, in the face of the explosion of fake document technology, along with the development of the internet, the police agency recommends that people need to be vigilant. Do not transact land through social networking sites, and carefully consider all types of documents related to the property before deciding to transact. It is best to go to the notary office, the district or city land registration office when making transactions to check the accuracy of the land use right certificate, house ownership rights and assets attached to the land.

At the same time, to prevent crimes of forging land use right certificates to appropriate property, land officials or relevant people need to create conditions and promptly handle when people request information related to land and housing. Notary organizations and People's Committees of communes and wards need to closely check the legality of land use right certificates and housing ownership rights provided by people, thereby promptly detecting cases of forgery to coordinate with functional forces to promptly handle./.