Fake female Deputy Editor-in-Chief and self-proclaimed lecturer embezzled billions

Two women have no jobs but 'brag' about being Deputy Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper and lecturer at a university so that people trust them and give them money to help them find jobs or study for their relatives.

1. Nguyen Thi Hang (35 years old, residing in Doi Can ward, Ba Dinh district, Hanoi) is a freelance worker. After her divorce, through social networks, Hang met Mr. Vu (from Hoa Binh), an inspector of a district in Hoa Binh province. Chatting and chatting on the Internet quickly brought the two of them together. Once, Mr. Vu confided to Hang that he wanted to study for a Master's degree in Hanoi but was worried that he would not pass the exam.

Knowing Mr. Vu's dream, Hang pretended to be a lecturer at a university in the capital, so she had many connections and could help Mr. Vu achieve his wish. In return, Mr. Vu had to pay 100 million VND. Believing what Hang said was true, on February 25, 2016, Mr. Vu asked his relatives to deposit the full amount into Hang's bank account. While waiting for the call to enroll in a Master's course in the capital, Mr. Vu confided to Hang that he wanted to transfer his job to Hanoi.

Being a troublemaker, Hang promised to help Mr. Vu transfer to Hanoi and work at a central agency. Like the previous time, Hang offered to pay 20,000 USD for this case. Once again putting his trust in a woman he met through social media, on March 3, 2016, Mr. Vu sold his Fortuner car for 680 million VND. Mr. Vu gave Hang 320 million VND in advance for this amount to arrange his job transfer.

He gave money twice for two different purposes, but Mr. Vu waited and waited but still did not see Hang fulfill her promise, so when he asked her, she tried to delay the payment. Suspecting that she had been cheated, Mr. Vu asked Hang for money many times but to no avail. Being pursued by Mr. Vu, Hang escaped.

Knowing that he had encountered a scammer, Mr. Vu filed a complaint against Hang’s actions with the police. From there, the cover of the female university lecturer was exposed as a jobless person. After a period of being on the run, Hang was arrested. Before the trial took place, Hang returned the money she had misappropriated to the victim.

At the trial, the defendant Hang admitted to the above crime. Explaining how she deceived Mr. Vu, Hang said that she initially only intended to joke with the man she had just met. But because Mr. Vu was too eager to study for a Master's degree and change jobs, she took advantage of him. The victim did not attend this trial and filed a petition asking the panel of judges to reduce the defendant's sentence because the consequences of the case had been resolved.

After comprehensively analyzing and evaluating the case and Hang's motive for committing the crime, the panel sentenced the defendant to 30 months in prison for fraud and appropriation of property, as stipulated in Article 139 of the Penal Code.

Defendant Hang and defendant Huong at the trial.

2.Hoang Thi Huong (40 years old, living in Co Nhue I ward, Bac Tu Liem district, Hanoi) has no stable job. After the divorce, Huong left her 4 children for her husband to raise and rented a house to live with an elderly official. During their passionate time, Huong's lover promised to establish a newspaper and become the Editor-in-Chief. At that time, Huong would be promoted to Deputy Editor-in-Chief.

Living in the illusion of being the leader of a newspaper, Huong committed fraud and appropriated property from dozens of people by claiming to be the Deputy Editor-in-Chief, having many connections and therefore being able to apply for study and jobs for those in need. However, after receiving the documents and money, Huong did not do as promised and did not return the money to the victims.

One of Huong's victims was Ms. Hoang Thi Tuyet (residing in Dong Da district, Hanoi). In early 2011, through an acquaintance, Huong was introduced as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper and had many connections, so Ms. Tuyet came to ask her to help her son get into a prestigious school in Hanoi. After "bragging" that her husband was the director of a state unit, Huong agreed to help Ms. Tuyet get her son into school at a cost of 300 million VND. Trusting her, Ms. Tuyet gave Huong the full amount.

In order to avoid legal action, when receiving money from Ms. Tuyet, Huong only wrote a loan note. After receiving 300 million VND from Ms. Tuyet, a few days later, Huong asked her to give her another 50 million VND so that her son's application for admission could be successful. Huong's request was met. Although Huong promised that Ms. Tuyet's son would receive an admission notice by October 2011, a long time passed and Ms. Tuyet's son still did not receive an admission notice. When Ms. Tuyet urged her, Huong cut off contact.

The investigation results determined that from 2011 to 2013, Huong received job and school applications from 31 people and a sum of more than 2.5 billion VND. Of which, Huong used fraudulent means to appropriate more than 1.7 billion VND from 19 victims. Huong's actions were determined to be very serious when she impersonated the Deputy Editor-in-Chief to create trust with job seekers in order to appropriate property. After the fraud was exposed, the defendant had no intention of remedying the consequences but deliberately appropriated the victims' property.

With the above verdict, at the end of April 2017, the People’s Court sentenced defendant Huong to 16 years in prison for fraud and property appropriation. In addition to the prison sentence, the People’s Court also ordered the defendant to compensate the victim for the entire amount of money he had appropriated according to the law.

The case has ended. The perpetrator has been severely punished by the law. But these two cases are a lesson for everyone to be vigilant, to be cautious with the words and promises of strangers. This is to avoid falling into the trap of scammers and to protect your assets.

According to CAND