'Blazing' to know leaders to cheat billions to get into medical school

On January 21, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Trinh Van Toan (born 1980), residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city (Nghe An) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

According to the case file, with the purpose of appropriating other people's money for personal use, Trinh Van Toan had the intention of defrauding by "running" a recruitment program for those who wanted to study at Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Defendant Trinh Van Toan. Photo: Tran Vu

The trick Toan used to make the victims believe him was to introduce himself as having wide connections, knowing the leaders of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and promising to get them admitted.

Trusting, from July 2019 to October 2019, four victims with addresses in Nghe An, Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa, Quang Binh provinces gave Toan a total amount of 960 million VND.

The victims only realized they had been scammed when they discovered that their names were not on the list of candidates for the entrance exam to Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy. After that, they repeatedly asked Toan to refund their money but he refused. Therefore, the victims filed a complaint with the police.

At the trial, the defendant admitted to the fraud as charged in the indictment. Toan stated that he had used all the money he had appropriated from the victims to pay off debts and spend on personal expenses. After the incident, the defendant had influenced the families to repay each of the four victims 10 million VND.

Committing Fraudappropriation of propertyWith the aggravating circumstance of committing the crime multiple times with many people, Trinh Van Toan was sentenced to 17 years in prison. The court also ordered the defendant to return all the money he had appropriated from the victims (minus the amount of compensation).