Woman fabricated noble background, swindled more than 11 billion

Today (April 16), Hanoi People's Court sentenced Ms. Vo Minh Hien (born 1963, in Ha Nam) to 20 years in prison for the crime ofembezzlement

Ms. Hien did not have a stable job. Around October 2017, during a trip to Japan, she met Ms. Q. (born in 1981, in Hanoi).

Knowing that Ms. Q. was financially well off and in financial trouble due to debt, the defendant thought of a way to cheat her out of money.

Ms. Hien introduced herself to Ms. Q. as coming from a prestigious family, knowing many people of high status and doing mineral business.

The defendant made up a story about exploiting minerals at mines in many provinces such as Ha Nam, Binh Thuan, Ninh Binh, and Quang Ninh.

Around November 2017, Ms. Hien called on Ms. Q. to contribute capital to do business, making a promise - if she contributed 350 million VND for a product code, Ms. Q. would receive a profit of 25 million VND, within 15-20 days.

Trusting the defendant, Ms. Q. transferred money to contribute capital. At first, to build trust, Ms. Hien paid the interest in full, then continued to invite Ms. Q. to invest a larger amount of money.

The indictment determined that Ms. Q. pooled her own money and borrowed more from friends and relatives to contribute capital to do business and earn interest. From November 7, 2017 to November 13, 2018, Ms. Q. transferred 14.7 billion VND to Ms. Hien.

Taking the victim’s money, the defendant withdrew more than 3 billion VND to transfer to Ms. Q., saying it was profit. The defendant appropriated the remaining 11 billion VND, used it to pay off debt and spent all of it.

By the end of December 2018, Ms. Q. repeatedly asked for her money back, but the defendant did not pay, claiming that he had collected all the money to invest in buying minerals in Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan...

On December 21, 2018, Ms. Q. reported Ms. Hien's fraud to the police and submitted related documents.