The anguish of women who lost both love and money to a "super swindler" with three previous convictions.

This is the fourth time Dang Chi Quyet (born in 1989), residing in Hong Linh town, Ha Tinh province, has stood before the witness stand to pay the price for his criminal acts.

The short, gaunt man calmly and clearly recounted each of his crimes. Looking at Quyết's appearance now, no one could believe that he had once boasted about being an officer of the Ministry of Public Security or the Deputy Director of the airport.

And those women sitting below, in their roles as parties with vested interests and obligations, had once firmly believed that this man would be the love of their lives. Only when the true face of this con artist with three prior convictions was revealed did these women realize they had lost both money and love.

Despite having only completed 9th grade and lacking a stable job, Quyết possessed a knack for using glib talk to deceive and extort money from others. From 2009 to 2013, Đặng Chí Quyết was tried three times by the People's Courts of Thủ Đức District (Ho Chi Minh City), Quảng Xương District (Thanh Hóa), ​​and Gia Lâm District (Hanoi) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property," receiving sentences of 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years and 4 months in prison, respectively.

Dang Chi Quyet at the trial. Photo: Nhu Binh

Shortly after being released from prison, Quyet reverted to his old ways, continuing his fraudulent activities. He befriended Ms. Bui Thi L. (from Tuyen Quang, who later became Quyet's wife) on social media, introducing himself as working at the Ministry of Public Security.

After a period of courtship and numerous promises, Quyết moved into L.'s house and they lived together as husband and wife.

In September 2016, Quyết confided in Ms. L. that he had just participated in a major drug trafficking case but accidentally shot a civilian, and now needed 60 million VND to compensate for the damage and avoid disciplinary action and dismissal from the force. Trusting her "common-law husband," Ms. L. gave Quyết the money. Quyết subsequently spent all of this money on personal expenses.

A month later, Quyết told Ms. L. that her sister had just given birth and was suffering from postpartum complications. Out of pity for her sister's pain, Quyết secretly gave her the confiscated drugs to help alleviate the suffering. This was discovered by the unit, and he needed a large sum of money to bribe them, otherwise he would face disciplinary action.

Believing him, Ms. L. gave Quyết 98 million VND twice. In addition, Quyết repeatedly gave excuses about work difficulties to "extract" money from Ms. L. When Ms. L. ran out of cash, Quyết "persuaded" her to pawn her assets, sometimes a motorbike, sometimes a gold necklace, sometimes a new model phone…

Trusting this man, Ms. L. agreed to marry Quyết, thinking she would have a secure future. Only when Quyết was arrested on charges of committing a series of frauds and misappropriating assets did Ms. L. realize the truth, but by then, "the die was cast," and she couldn't escape the marriage that had only just begun.

Ms. TTH (residing in Ha Tinh) is one of the victims of Quyet – a man she once trusted and considered like a son-in-law. Ms. H.'s daughter, Ms. S., had been divorced once and had a child from that marriage. One time, Ms. S. brought Quyet home to introduce him. Initially, their relationship was purely platonic, but Quyet's attentiveness and thoughtfulness towards Ms. S. and her child, as well as Ms. H.'s family, filled Ms. H. with joy. She was even happier when Quyet introduced himself as the Deputy Director of Vinh Airport, claiming he could help Ms. H. secure jobs for her husband and son there.

Trusting her future son-in-law, Mrs. H. not only paid money to secure jobs for her husband and son, but also introduced him to her neighbor. After the son-in-law agreed to help and set a specific price, Mrs. H. took the neighbor's money and gave it to Quyết.

The victims were defrauded and had their money stolen by Quyet. Photo: Nhu Binh

“During this time, Quyết even bought my daughter a car. I thought that since my daughter had been through a failed marriage, meeting Quyết and being taken care of so thoughtfully was the best thing that could happen. My whole family cherished Quyết like our own son; we always saved some delicious food and called him over to share with the family. Then, suddenly, I received a call from an acquaintance, telling me to go to town to pick up S. and bring her home.”

It turned out that only after Quyết was arrested did S. learn the truth about him. Humiliated and ashamed, she sent someone to pick up her child, while she intended to commit suicide. I had to persuade her for a long time before she calmed down and continued to raise her child. The car Quyết bought for S. was also sold to pay off a debt to a neighbor,” Mrs. H. said bitterly. The total amount of money that Đặng Chí Quyết defrauded and stole from Mrs. TTH was 400 million VND.

With the same intention of defrauding and appropriating property, Quyet went online to befriend Ms. LTD (residing in Dien Hoa commune, Dien Chau district, Nghe An province). Quyet introduced himself as a load control officer in the flight service department of Noi Bai Airport (Hanoi).

Ms. D. believed him and asked Quyet to help her get a job selling food in the canteen at Vinh Airport. Quyet eagerly promised to help and quoted a total cost of 63 million VND, with a monthly fee of 5.3 million VND, or 63.6 million VND for a year. Ms. D. agreed and gave Quyet the money, receiving a service contract from the Vietnam Airports Corporation. Upon examining the contract and noticing several irregularities, Ms. D. suspected Quyet was scamming her and reported it to the police.

On the evening of March 16, 2018, when Quyết went to Ms. D.'s house to collect the money, he was arrested by the Diễn Châu District Police. It was at this point that the true identity of the fraud ringleader, Đặng Chí Quyết, was revealed.

Using similar tactics, Quyet promised jobs to nine other people across Hanoi, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and other locations, in order to swindle them out of money. To gain the victims' trust, Quyet had people forge appointment and employment decisions from various agencies and organizations. Authorities clarified that between July 2016 and March 2018, Dang Chi Quyet defrauded a total of 1.4 billion VND from 12 victims.

At the trial, the defendant Quyết admitted to all his crimes and agreed to return the money he had embezzled from the victims. Considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the Panel of Judges of the Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced Dang Chi Quyết to 16 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 3 years in prison for "Using forged seals and documents of organizations," for a combined sentence of 19 years in prison.