Hanh has just been arrested by the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency for her behavior.Fraudulent appropriation of property.

According to the investigation, while living at her husband's house in District 3, Hanh became close to Ms. Ngoc, 72 years old - a friend of her mother-in-law. In early 2015, Hanh confided in her family and felt depressed, wanting to start a fruit business and needed 100 million VND in capital, so she borrowed from Ms. Ngoc. Because she liked Hanh, Ms. Ngoc agreed to help.

Some time later, Hanh said that her business had failed and she wanted to switch to investing in a hotel on Le Van Sy Street, District 3, and continue to borrow money from Ms. Ngoc. As collateral, she gave some diamond jewelry. Hanh said that these were assets of the owner of a gold and silver business in Tan Dinh Market, District 1, who was her partner.

Trusting her close friend's daughter-in-law, Ms. Ngoc lent Hanh a total of nearly 2 billion VND many times, and kept the jewelry she gave her.

Defendant Le Thi My Hanh. Photo: Provided by the police.

When it was time to pay the debt, Hanh said that all of Ms. Ngoc's money had been given to the businesswoman who smuggled diamonds and that she had just been arrested. The gold shop owner told the police that he had given Ms. Ngoc the smuggled diamond jewelry to keep, so she would soon be summoned. Seeing Ms. Ngoc worried, Hanh reassured her that he had hired someone to pretend to be her and come to work with the police.

A few days later, Ms. Ngoc received a call from an unknown number, claiming to be the lawyer of her double, saying that her client was in the hospital and could not continue working with the police. He asked Ms. Ngoc to give him money to settle the matter, otherwise it would be exposed. Ms. Ngoc transferred a total of 350 million VND to this man to keep things peaceful.

Hanh also came to see Ms. Ngoc many times to discuss the diamond and gold smuggling case and went with a man named Khang. She introduced Khang as her boss at the hotel in District 3 - where they were doing business together. Some time later, Ms. Ngoc received a power of attorney allowing her to receive shares worth 3 billion VND in the hotel.

Then, Hanh called and said that "she was being held by the police for a gold smuggling case and could not go to the hotel to receive the dividend money", so she asked Ms. Ngoc to bring the power of attorney to meet Khang to get it. Hanh used this money to pay off the previous loan, and she asked Ms. Ngoc to keep the rest for her.

Ms. Ngoc called Khang, who confirmed that Hanh had the shares. However, if Ms. Ngoc wanted to get 3 billion VND, she had to pay 800 million VND to complete the procedures and withdraw the capital. Anxious to get back the money she had lent Hanh, Ms. Ngoc transferred the money to the account number he requested.

However, shortly after that, she received a text message from Khang's number, saying that "he had just been arrested by the police for being involved with Hanh, so he could not go to the hotel to get the money to pay her back. Suspecting that he had been scammed, Ngoc and her husband intended to report it.

Hanh suddenly came to find her, saying that she had just been released on bail for investigation. Knowing that Mrs. Ngoc and her husband intended to report to the police, she both begged and threatened that she would "tell the story and ask someone to take her place" in the diamond smuggling case. In addition, if Hanh was arrested, she would not be able to take out her hotel shares to pay her debt.

To reassure Mrs. Ngoc, Hanh gave her a savings book at a bank worth 5 billion VND and wrote a commitment to return the entire amount she owed. After someone checked, Mrs. Ngoc and her husband discovered that the bank did not have an account under Hanh's name.

Ms. Ngoc called Hanh to ask questions, then she came to give her a cash receipt of more than 6 billion with a red stamp from the bank. Hanh said she was hiding because she owed many people money, could not go to withdraw money, so she authorized Ms. Ngoc to go and receive it for her and pay the debt.

While Mrs. Ngoc was waiting for Hanh to make the authorization, a man dressed as a police officer came, claiming to be a police officer, and asked her about Hanh and the gold smuggling case. Seeing the "police" mention the case a lot, Mrs. Ngoc and her husband were scared, and believed even more the "truth" as Hanh said.

A few days later, Ms. Ngoc received a call from a man claiming to be a police officer investigating the gold smuggling case, saying that he knew she had asked someone to take the blame for her and that he was the only one who could receive the more than 6 billion VND from the bank on Hanh's behalf. This "officer" suggested that he would withdraw the money for Ms. Ngoc "and at the same time remove her name from the case during the investigation" on the condition that she transfer more than 3 billion VND to him.

Ms. Ngoc wanted to escape trouble with the law and at the same time receive 6 billion VND, so she borrowed money everywhere and got nearly 3 billion VND to transfer to the "investigator".

During the following days, Hanh came to give Mrs. Ngoc and her husband summonses and invitations to the police station to work on the smuggling case. She also threatened that "the Prime Minister is very interested in the case so he will personally come to check it out", causing Mrs. Ngoc to collect nearly 300 million VND to give to Hanh to help clear her name.

Ngoc and her husband read in the newspaper that the Prime Minister was on a business trip abroad and not in Saigon for work. They called Hanh but she hung up. Realizing they had been scammed, Ngoc and her husband reported it to the police.

Verifying the incident, the investigation agency confirmed that there was no case of gold or diamond smuggling, and that the documents related to the police, the People's Procuracy... that Hanh gave to the victim couple were all fake. Over the past 2 years, Hanh has defrauded Ms. Ngoc and her husband of nearly 9 billion VND.

The investigation agency is expanding the case, clarifying the roles of those involved.