Female 'fake director' scams people out of money by promising cheap overseas employment and tourism with high success rates.

Tactics"low cost, high success rate”

Tran Thi Hang Nga (41 years old), residing in Dien Chau commune (formerly Dien Ngoc commune), Nghe An province, has only completed high school. Since 2021, due to business losses and debt pressure, Nga conceived the idea of ​​defrauding and appropriating property by promising to send people to work abroad in various countries.

To legitimize her fraudulent activities, Tran Thi Hang Nga established a company with an address in Hanoi, where she was the director. In reality, this was just an office rented by the hour, containing only a desk and chair, with no computers, printers, files, or employees.

Although the company had no function or responsibility for sending people abroad for work, tourism, or study, this individual still provided information claiming that the company had successfully sent many workers overseas. After receiving documents from the victims, Nga sent some documents along with a portion of the money to three other individuals to arrange fingerprinting appointments, interviews at foreign embassies, and airline tickets.

After the workers had their fingerprints taken and visa interviews completed, Nga downloaded labor contracts and visa images from the internet, then had someone edit the information to match the workers' identities. In addition, Nga falsified information on airline tickets, leading the victims to believe her and continue depositing money. However, after receiving the money, Nga did not carry out any procedures but used it to pay off debts and for personal expenses.

Lam is in debt because of his dream of going abroad.

Among the victims of Tran Thi Hang Nga's scam was Mr. Nguyen Nhu G. (from Nghe An province). In 2022, Mr. G. wanted to travel to South Korea and submitted his application to a company. He was then informed that his application had been forwarded to Nga for processing. Nga contacted Mr. G., requesting a copy of his Citizen Identity Card and bank statements for the three most recent months. At the end of 2022, the South Korean Embassy sent a message informing him that his application had been rejected and he would not be granted a visa.

In early September 2023, Mr. G. contacted Nga again to arrange his trip to South Korea. To gain the victim's trust, Nga claimed that South Korean tourist visa applications were easy to process at that time and requested him to submit several documents for the visa. After several exchanges, Nga repeatedly asked Mr. G. to transfer money. Trusting her, Mr. G. transferred 300 million VND to Nga on several occasions.

However, on the scheduled flight date, Nga cut off contact with Mr. G. Some time later, Nga replied that due to problems, she couldn't fly yet, and then continued to make promises. After a long wait without success, Mr. G decided to cancel his plans and demanded that Nga return the money. However, after the victim repeatedly demanded the money back, the female director only returned 1 million VND to Mr. G.

Using similar tactics, Tran Thi Hang Nga cleverly lured workers into her trap. This time, the victim was Mr. Nguyen Cong T. (residing in Quynh Luu commune). Because he wanted to work in Canada, in early May 2023, through social connections, Mr. T. contacted Nga to help with the procedures. Nga quoted a fee of nearly 600 million VND, promising that he would depart within two months, with a two-year contract for agricultural work.

On June 12, 2023, Nga sent a digitally altered visa photo to Mr. T. via Zalo and demanded 400 million VND. Believing the visa was genuine, Mr. T.'s family transferred the money to Nga. Subsequently, Nga continued to send a fake airline ticket photo, demanding another 46 million VND from Mr. T.

By early July 2023, Nga used the excuse of faulty or delayed flight tickets to continue extorting money from the victim. Nga claimed there were issues with the documents, requiring re-processing, and demanded an additional 350 million VND to deposit into a savings account as proof of financial stability. Trusting her, Mr. T transferred a total of nearly 800 million VND to Nga. However, after waiting for a long time without receiving anything, Mr. T realized he had been scammed and demanded the return of his documents and money, but the female director disappeared.

Investigators determined that Tran Thi Hang Nga defrauded and misappropriated assets from 14 victims and related parties by processing procedures for 242 people to work abroad, study abroad, or travel to countries such as South Korea, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, totaling over 19.5 billion VND. Among the victims, the person who was defrauded the most lost nearly 6 billion VND.

Many victims attending the trial of Tran Thi Hang Nga for fraud and misappropriation of property were heartbroken because they believed the promises of the fake director. They said they had borrowed money and gold to give to Nga with the dream of going abroad and improving their family's economic situation. However, Nga heartlessly deceived them, leaving many in debt.

Scamming tens of billions of dong to pay off debts and for beauty treatments.

Before the witness stand at the first-instance trial, the defendant admitted to her criminal acts. Regarding the motive for the crime, the female defendant stated that due to business losses and inability to repay debts, she devised the fraudulent scheme as charged in the indictment. After becoming deeply involved in the fraudulent activities, she was unable to stop until she was arrested.

When questioned by the court about the nearly 20 billion VND she embezzled from the victims, Nga stated that she used the money to pay off debts and for personal expenses. Additionally, she confessed to using a portion of the money for cosmetic procedures.

The defendant's testimony angered many of the victims sitting below. Many families had borrowed money from everywhere to send as requested by the defendant. Yet, Nga used that money for her own needs, spending, and beauty treatments. Therefore, they demanded that the defendant return the money.

However, the defendant stated in court that he is currently unable to repay the debt. After his arrest, his four young children had to rely on relatives for care, and life became difficult. Mentioning his children, the defendant broke down in tears, apologized to the victims, and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances.

After the trial, the panel of judges concluded that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society. The defendant provided false and untrue information about his ability to arrange overseas employment and tourism, prompting victims to transfer money. The defendant's actions violated the property rights of others, which are protected by law, and significantly affected public order and people's lives. Therefore, a severe sentence is necessary to deter and educate the defendant.

After considering all aspects of the case, the court sentenced Tran Thi Hang Nga to 18 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property. Regarding the civil aspect, the court ordered the defendant to return the money to the victims.

The trial concluded with a verdict for the defendant, but the victims left with many worries. They didn't know when they would get back the hundreds of millions, even billions of dong, they had given to the defendant.