While trying to recover 2.7 billion VND that was scammed out of, I ended up losing nearly 1 billion VND more.
Tran Thi Hanh impersonated a police officer with the ability to solve cases and track down perpetrators, defrauding people of nearly 1 billion VND.
The Criminal Police Department of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police announced that they have initiated a criminal case, charged the suspect, and temporarily detained Tran Thi Hanh, born in 1984, residing in Hoang Xuan commune, Hoang Hoa district, for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.
Previously, on November 15th, the Criminal Police Department of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police received a complaint from a resident of But Son town, Hoang Hoa district, accusing Tran Thi Hanh of impersonating a police officer with the ability to solve and track down the perpetrator of a crime, thereby defrauding the victim of nearly 1 billion VND.
Immediately after receiving the report, the Criminal Police Department quickly launched an investigation to verify and clarify the incident.
Initial verification by the Criminal Police Department determined that: In 2020, while participating in a charity program in Nghi Son town, Tran Thi Hanh became acquainted with the victim's husband. Because many police officers were present in the group, the victim's husband thought that Hanh also worked in the police force. In early March 2023, the victim's husband called Hanh to tell her that his wife had just been scammed online and lost 2.7 billion VND, and asked Hanh for help in tracking down the perpetrators to recover the lost money.
After hearing the victims' story over the phone, Hanh agreed to help, saying she could investigate and recover the money they had been scammed out of. Hanh then instructed the victims to write a criminal complaint to the police, claiming she would "influence" the authorities to quickly apprehend the scammer and recover the money.
During the course of her work, Hanh repeatedly asked the victim's family for money to "handle the matter," totaling nearly 1 billion VND. Around July 2023, after sending a large sum of money to Hanh without the promised resolution, the victim's couple suspected Hanh was not a police officer and repeatedly called her demanding the money back. To reassure the victim's family, Hanh continued to deceive them by claiming to be a police officer and refused to return the money. In November 2023, after verifying her identity, they discovered Hanh was not a police officer and filed a complaint with the Criminal Police Department of Thanh Hoa Provincial Police.
