'Monster woman' with multiple cases reveals reason for fraud

Contribute capital for "virtual" shipments

In early 2023, the Nghe An Provincial Police Investigation Agency received petitions from victims in Vinh City. Most of the petitions had the same content of accusations of being scammed by a female subject who called for investment capital for a shipment of foreign cosmetics sent back. Only when the person could not be contacted and the goods were not available, did the victims panic and file a report to the police.

From the letters and evidence, the investigators found out that the subject behind the fraud was Pham Thi My Hanh (born in 1991), residing in Le Loi ward, Vinh city (Nghe An). However, what surprised the investigators was that Hanh was currently under supervision because she was involved in another fraud case that had been tried.

Despite being sentenced, with her "lazy and industrious" nature, Pham Thi My Hanh still hid her conviction and continued to make up excuses to carry out new scams. This time, because she wanted to pay off her debt, Pham Thi My Hanh came up with the idea of ​​defrauding and appropriating the property of Ms. Pham Thi V. (born in 1985), residing in Hung Phuc ward, Vinh city and Hanh's cousin.

After many conversations and inquiries, Hanh lied to her that she needed money to buy a shipment of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, milk... from abroad. According to Hanh's introduction, this was a shipment sent by her husband's family from abroad, with high profits and a commitment that the goods would be sold. With the profits that Hanh drew, Ms. V. agreed to contribute capital with absolute trust.

As soon as the victim fell into the trap, Hanh used many excuses such as depositing money for goods, shipping costs or even needing money to pay customs fees to make Ms. V. trust her and transfer the money.

From June 1, 2021 to June 10, 2022, Ms. Pham Thi V. transferred money to Hanh's account 4 times with a total amount of 20.6 billion VND. In addition, this woman also asked an acquaintance to transfer more than 1.3 billion VND to Hanh.

To create trust, Pham Thi My Hanh used tricks. After receiving the second capital contribution, Hanh returned a part of the previous capital contribution to Ms. V. and considered it as the initial profit, making Ms. V. trust her even more. Hanh transferred 19.9 billion VND back to Ms. V., the rest for personal expenses.

However, on June 10, 2022, Hanh texted to "confess" her actions and then completely cut off contact with Ms. V. At this time, Ms. V. was shocked and filed a complaint with the police investigation agency. And here, Ms. V. was shocked to learn that Hanh was serving a sentence related to the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

Previously, in 2021, during the course of trading, Hanh borrowed money from many people, including Ms. BM (born in 1991) and Ms. KO (born in 1991), both residing in Vinh City. When lending an amount of more than 5 billion VND, knowing that Hanh could not repay, in June 2021, Ms. BM and Ms. KO reported Hanh's actions to the police.

At the end of May 2022, Phan Thi My Hanh was brought to trial in connection with the case of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and sentenced to 20 years in prison. However, because at that time, the defendant Hanh was raising a child under 36 months old, she was released on bail.

Reasons for continued fraud

At the end of December 2023, the first instance trial of Pham Thi My Hanh for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property took place. Attending the trial were mostly people who trusted and transferred large sums of money to Hanh.

It is known that Hanh herself was born into a well-educated family and received a good education. With the advantage of a lively appearance and a smart personality, Hanh became involved in online trading with all kinds of products. However, during difficult economic times, the business did not go as expected, causing Hanh to continuously bear debt for goods. Even after being tried for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property with a sentence of 20 years in prison, Pham Thi My Hanh still deliberately hid the fact that she was being managed to continue to defraud Ms. V.

When asked by the Trial Panel about the reason for the fraud, the answer given by Hanh in court shocked everyone. However, in court, the defendant Hanh repeatedly asserted that he had no intention of committing fraud.

My Hanh burst into tears when explaining her crime: "At that time, the defendant and her husband had divorced, and her two children were raised by her husband. After the divorce, the defendant discovered she was pregnant for the third time. At that time, the defendant did not understand what she was thinking. The defendant thought that by doing so, she could prove to her family that she earned money to have a stable life and wanted to be with her children more."

The defendant apologized to the victims and hoped that Ms. V. would not put pressure on his family. Hanh also said that since she is in prison and the verdict of the case is pending, it will be a long time before she returns. In the current situation, the defendant has no way to repay the money she has embezzled.

Right at the trial, the victim also said that because she trusted Hanh too much, she now had to fall into debt, her children had to be raised by others, and her work reputation was also affected. "The defendant has no humanity, no ethics. When the police were investigating her, and when the court sentenced her to 20 years in prison, Hanh still deliberately deceived me...", Ms. V. shared and gave the reason for not accepting the apology and not agreeing to forgive the defendant Hanh.

Considering the case as a whole, the first instance trial panel sentenced defendant Pham Thi My Hanh to 16 years in prison. Combined with the sentence currently being served, defendant Hanh must serve a sentence of 30 years in prison. The court also ordered the defendant to return more than 1.9 billion VND to Ms. V. (minus more than 100 million VND that had previously been paid by her family).

Defendant Hanh walked out of court with tears streaming down her face. Right now, Hanh should be happily living with her family, taking care of and raising her children. But because of greed, this young mother had to pay a very high price.