Real estate agents in Nghe An province 'terrorize' customers for refusing to buy land.

On the afternoon of June 11th, the Police Department for Administrative Management and Social Order (PC 06, Nghe An Provincial Police) temporarily detained Ho Quynh Tuong (27 years old, Quynh Giang commune, Quynh Luu district) and Tran Thi Giang (32 years old, Quang Trung ward, Vinh City) to investigate their alleged "extortion" activities.

Tuong and Giang are employees of Viethome Media Co., Ltd. This company, headquartered at 8 Le Nin Avenue (Vinh City), specializes in real estate consulting, brokerage, and auction services.

Wall at the police station. Photo: Tien Hung

According to Ms. H. (residing in Nghi Duc commune, Vinh City), around the end of May, she saw an advertisement for land for sale by this company on social media and contacted them to view the land. After visiting the land in person, she did not buy it because she was not satisfied.

A week later, Tran Thi Giang called Ms. H. to ask if she was still interested in buying land and introduced her to another plot. Ms. H. was then taken by a company employee to view the land and was quoted a price of 650 million VND.

"After viewing the land, I said it was too expensive and left without making any promises to them. When I got home, I asked my husband, and he said that another real estate company was selling the same plot of land for much cheaper. Therefore, my husband and I didn't buy through Viethome but bought from another brokerage firm, which offered a lower price," Ms. H. recounted.

Since then, Ms. H.'s family has continuously received "psychological harassment" phone calls from a group of people belonging to Viethome Media Co., Ltd. This group has repeatedly come to Ms. H.'s house and even to her workplace (a state agency in Vinh City) to threaten her.

Police take a statement from Tran Thi Giang. Photo: Tien Hung

"This group demanded 30 million VND from me. They said it was for advertising, then later they said it was for service fees or some kind of markup. Because I had already viewed the land but didn't buy it, I had to pay. They were very aggressive, saying 'if you don't pay, it's not over,'" Ms. H. recounted, adding that this group even went to each neighbor's house, impersonating police officers to spread rumors that Ms. H.'s family had committed many wrongdoings and that the police were investigating.

After repeatedly refusing to pay, claiming she hadn't used any of the company's services, Ms. H. was offered a reduced amount of 20 million VND by the real estate agents. On the afternoon of June 11th, Giang and Tuong were caught red-handed by the 113 police force while receiving 15 million VND from Ms. H.

Speaking with a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper, Colonel Luong The Loc, Head of PC 06 Department (Nghe An Provincial Police), said that the unit is finalizing the case file to transfer it to Vinh City Police for investigation according to their jurisdiction.