Nghe An: Increasing land-related fraud crimes

Old habits die hard

Recently, there have been many cases of fraud and abuse of trust to appropriate property related to land in the province. In particular, scammers often take advantage of people's desire to make money to set traps related to land. This type of crime is often very sophisticated and unpredictable, causing great damage to people's property and disrupting local security and order.

Most recently, on February 8, 2023, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Provincial Police conductedprosecuted and temporarily detained Mai Xuan Dieu - Director of Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Block 2, Dien Chau town (Dien Chau district), for the crime of abuse of trust to appropriate property.

Authorities conducted an inspection, search and seized many documents at the headquarters of Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company. Photo: Trong Tuan

Previously, at the end of 2022, the authorities received a complaint from Mr. V, residing in Phuc Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), accusing the couple Mai Xuan Dieu and Ho Thi Thanh Hoa (both residing in Hamlet 2, Dien Phuc commune, Dien Chau district) of appropriating property with a total amount of VND 3,920,000,000. After receiving the complaint, the police determined that Mai Xuan Dieu, in his role as Director of Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, had organized the purchase of land from many people and then carried out procedures to divide the plots, separate the plots and resell them. However, after receiving the transfer money from the customers, Mai Xuan Dieu did not fulfill his commitment but continued to resell it to others to appropriate the money of the victims.

Mai Xuan Dieu (standing in the middle) listens to the indictment and temporary detention order from the authorities. It is worth mentioning that Mai Xuan Dieu had a previous conviction for “fraudulent appropriation of property” and was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the People’s Court of Nghe An province. Photo: Cut from clip

In Mr. V's case, after learning that Dieu wanted to sell 7 plots of land in Nghia Lam commune (Nghia Dan), Mr. V agreed to buy back 7 plots of land from Dieu for 3,920,000,000 VND. Although he had paid the full amount as committed, Mr. V still did not receive the land and related documents. During the investigation, the authorities determined that the plots of land that Mr. V bought from Mai Xuan Dieu and his wife in Nghia Lam commune had been transferred by this subject to 7 other individuals with addresses in Cua Lo town and Dien Chau district, illegally profiting billions of VND.

It is worth mentioning that Mai Xuan Dieu has a previous conviction for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the People's Court of Nghe An province. Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company itself was newly established by Dieu on June 12, 2019. After prosecuting and temporarily detaining Mai Xuan Dieu for investigation, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province Police also issued Notice No. 497/TB-CSKT regarding the notice to find Mai Xuan Dieu's victim. Immediately after this notice was issued, we also received a lot of information related to the victim.

Authorities sealed documents seized from the office of Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company. Photo: Cut from clip

Ms. Ho Thi T, currently residing in Mau Don hamlet, Hung Loc commune (Vinh city), is also one of the victims of Mai Xuan Dieu and Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company. Ms. T said that in early March 2022, she and a friend, Ms. Dang Thi Thanh H (residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city), through a broker of Phoenix Real Estate Investment and Construction Joint Stock Company, agreed to buy 1 plot of land in Nghia Thanh commune and 1 plot of land in Nghia Loc commune (both in Nghia Dan district) from this company, with a total value of 655,000,000 VND. After signing the contract and paying the money, Ms. T and Ms. H always received promises to wait for the day to receive the Land Use Rights Certificate. However, after many promises, they still did not receive the Land Use Rights Certificate or get their money back, then Ms. T and Ms. H realized that they had been scammed.

Currently, according to our investigation, after the police agency issued a notice to find Mai Xuan Dieu's victims, more than 30 victims have gathered in the Zalo group to file a petition together, providing documents and evidence to the authorities. In addition to wanting to get their money back, the victims also want the scammers to be punished by law.

Fraud with fake red cover

In addition to defrauding people of capital contributions to buy land, defrauding land plots, etc., many people also take advantage of the land fever to print and fake red covers and then commit fraud. Those who fake red covers often take advantage of the land fever and the psychology of many people wanting to see the red cover before "paying", even making fake covers and then selling them at surprisingly low prices. Many people see fake covers without checking carefully, just seeing the cheap price and then making a deposit.

Yen Thanh District Police work with suspect Le Van The. Photo: Document

At the end of 2022, Yen Thanh District Police arrested Le Xuan The (born in 1995), residing in Tang Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". According to the investigation results, in order to have money to spend, around mid-2022, The went online to learn and connect with many subjects who forged Land Use Rights Certificates. After obtaining the fake red book, The went to some acquaintances to pawn it for money to spend. After forging 2 red books and pawning it for 500 million VND, The immediately cut off contact with the victims and their families. After realizing they had been scammed, The's victims filed a report together, and around the end of 2022, The was arrested by the Investigation Police Department of Yen Thanh District Police.

In particular, during the land fever, taking advantage of the psychology of wanting to buy early to make a profit, some subjects also sophisticatedly forged red books to trick people from other localities to invest in buying land in Nghe An. Specifically, 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 and property appropriation. Previously, seeing that there was a land fever in Nghe An and Ha Tinh, with many people rushing to buy land for investment, Hang created for herself a "cover" as a successful real estate entrepreneur to call for capital contributions from investors. To create trust and be able to appropriate a large amount of money, Hang made a land purchase and sale deposit contract herself, forged the red book and then transferred it to people who wanted to invest in buying land. In just about 1 year, Hang used 2 fake land certificates to defraud Ms. H (residing in Hanoi) of nearly 8 billion VND.

A fake red cover bearing the name Au Thi Thanh Hang was seized by authorities. Photo: Document

Some opinions say that the reason why red book fraud has arisen in recent years is because, currently, when carrying out procedures for transferring, donating, or giving land use rights, according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law, the parties only need to go to the notary office to do the procedures, then submit them to the branch of the Land Use Rights Registration Office without having to go through the People's Committee of the ward or commune where the land is located to check and confirm as before. Therefore, many bad guys have made fake books and advertised them for sale at surprisingly low prices, accepted deposits, let buyers hold the books to gain trust and then "run away". Or they can use fake books to mortgage, carry out civil transactions...

In recent years, in Vinh City, many fake red books have been sold by scammers. Only when the buyer brings the book to the Commune People's Committee or the Land Use Rights Registration Office for inspection will they know that it is a fake book. At that time, the scammers have already taken the deposit and run away.

For example, in March 2019 at the People's Committee of Nghi Phu commune (Vinh city), the local land officer received information that a resident brought a notarized land transfer document to inquire about the land plot.

A very sophisticatedly forged red cover, with transfer information and signatures of the authorities, but the street name in front of the land plot is "Hoang Van Thai", while in Vinh City there is only Hoang Phan Thai Street. Photo: Tien Dong

This land title has the number BC317937, in the name of Tran Ngoc Lam (born in 1993), residing in Duc Long commune, Duc Tho district (Ha Tinh). The title shows an area of ​​150 square meters, plot number 26, map sheet 39, Hoang Van Thai street (in reality, there is only Hoang Phan Thai street), in hamlet 6, Nghi Phu commune. However, when looking at the title, the cadastral officer of Nghi Phu commune immediately knew it was a fake title and informed the authorities to warn them.

It can be seen that making fake red books and then using them to commit fraud is no longer a rare thing. Therefore, many localities have also recommended that before carrying out land transaction procedures, the transferee needs to find out some information about the land plot such as: whether the land and assets on the land are in dispute or not; whether the area, size and related planning have changed compared to the issued certificate or not; whether there is a decision to withdraw or a notice to withdraw the land to carry out projects or not; whether it has been seized or blocked by the competent authority or not; or whether the certificate has been revoked or canceled or not... This will help those who need to buy land not to be deceived, because if they do not research carefully, they will easily fall into the situation of "losing money and getting sick"...