Woman fakes her death for 5 years to claim insurance benefits.
After being declared dead for five years to fraudulently claim insurance benefits, a woman in Thanh Hoa unexpectedly appeared at the Quang Trung Ward People's Committee, requesting that her death registration be canceled.
According to the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police, on December 17, 2025, the Quang Trung Ward Police received a report from the Ward People's Committee regarding a woman who identified herself as Nguyen Thi Thu (born in 1984, residing in Phu Son residential area, Group 3) requesting the deletion of a death registration. Five years prior, a person with the same name had been registered as deceased by their family in the ward, raising suspicions about the case.
Initial verification by the ward police confirmed that the person requesting the removal of the death certificate was the same person who had been issued it.death certificatePreviously, noticing unusual circumstances and suspected involvement in illegal activities, the ward police reported the incident and transferred the case file to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police for further investigation within their jurisdiction.
According to the investigation results, in 2017, Nguyen Thi Thu divorced her husband and went to live with her mother, Tran Thi Thap (born in 1955), in residential area 3, Phu Son, Quang Trung ward. During this time, Thu worked in the southern provinces and participated in four life insurance contracts.
By 2020, after discovering she had cancer and frequently arguing with her mother, Thu conceived the idea of faking her own death to claim insurance money.
Thu then discussed with her mother about staging a fake death. To avoid detection, the two hired a shaman from Hoat Giang commune to help organize a fake funeral. This shaman had actually passed away in 2022.
According to the plan, on the morning of June 7, 2020, Thu staged a fake death scene at her home. Her family then informed local authorities and relatives that Thu had died suddenly, in order to coordinate the funeral arrangements.
The embalming was done quickly and discreetly. Only Thu, Mrs. Thap, and the person hired to help organize the funeral knew about it beforehand.
At midnight that same day, Thu left home and stayed temporarily at the house of the person assisting in organizing the funeral, before going to Dong Nai province to work. With a meticulously planned scheme, the local authorities, residents, and even family members were unaware for a long time. A funeral was held as if it were real for someone who was believed to have died.
After Thu was reported dead, on June 8, 2020, Ms. Thap went to the People's Committee of Phu Son ward (formerly) to complete the death registration procedures for her daughter with the cause of death listed as "sudden death," and simultaneously contacted insurance companies to process the claim for insurance benefits.
During a search of Ms. Thap's residence, the Police Investigation Agency seized numerous insurance company payment notices totaling nearly 1.3 billion VND.
During questioning by investigators, Nguyen Thi Thu confessed that due to a serious illness, she was worried about not being eligible for insurance benefits and wanted money to support her mother, so she conspired to fake her own death in order to fraudulently claim insurance money.
Currently, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police Investigation Agency has initiated a criminal case and temporarily detained Ms. Tran Thi Thap and Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu for investigation into fraudulent activities in the insurance business, in accordance with the law.
