'Monster woman' has many tricks that make many men fall into scam traps

Promise "in the clouds"

In early November 2022, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province Police received a number of complaints against a subject named Cao Thi Thu Ha (born in 1990), residing in Dien Hoa Commune, Dien Chau District (Nghe An Province). Although the complaints came from many different locations: Dien Chau, Nghia Dan, ..., they all had the same content reflecting being scammed by Ha under many different tricks.

Through much information that the detectives have, the life around Cao Thi Thu Ha has many suspicious signs. Although she is unemployed, Ha has a very generous lifestyle and is willing to spend a lot on personal shopping,...

Based on the information collected, on December 16, 2022, the Investigation Police Department of Nghe An Province Police initiated a case and prosecuted Cao Thi Thu Ha for fraud and property appropriation. During the investigation, Ha confessed honestly, her confession was consistent with the documents and evidence collected by the police.

Around April 2022, Ha met Mr. Phan The T. (born in 1989), residing in Nghia Loc commune, Nghia Dan district through many friends. When he learned that Mr. T.'s lover had just taken an exam to enter a bank in Nghe An province but was waiting for the results, Ha promised that he could help his lover get a good position at that bank. Ha provided information that he was a close acquaintance of the director of this bank and promised that he would definitely get a job. Trusting that "promise", Mr. T. transferred money to Ha many times.

On April 12, 2022, Mr. T. transferred 530 million VND to Ha. A day later, Mr. T. met Ha at a coffee shop and gave him another 170 million VND. At that time, Ha wrote a job application confirming that he had received the full amount of 700 million VND from Mr. T. but did not clearly state the reason for applying for the job. A few days later, Ha continued to make up stories, saying that he needed an additional 150 million VND, so that the decision to accept the job could be signed quickly and Mr. T. agreed to transfer the money. The total amount of money Mr. T. gave Ha to apply for a job for his lover was 850 million VND.

Also during this time, Ha knew that Mr. T. wanted to buy a car, so Ha "confided" that he could buy a car at a cheaper price at local car dealerships. Being able to buy a car at a "bargain" price, in a short time, Mr. T. did not hesitate to transfer 510 million VND to Ha to ask Ha to buy the car under his name.

After a while, Ha called the victim, suggesting that he buy a car in a higher segment. Ha also took Mr. T. to the dealership to put down a deposit on the car. However, before entering the dealership, Ha continued to "entice" the victim to switch to another car worth more with a more favorable incentive policy, and Mr. T. agreed. After discussing with his lover, Mr. T. continued to transfer money to Ha. Initially, with the intention of buying a car worth 510 million VND, after being "hypnotized" by Ha many times, Mr. T. transferred a total of 700 million VND to this woman.

Also during this time, Cao Thi Thu Ha invited Mr. Dau Cong N. (born in 1991), residing in Dien Thinh commune, Dien Chau district, to contribute capital to start a transportation service business (container truck) with her. Ha committed that only Mr. N. would contribute capital, and Ha would be responsible for managing the business and paying regular interest to Mr. N. With an initial capital contribution of 400 million VND, each month Mr. N. would receive 20 million VND in commission.

It is known that in the first 2 months, Cao Thi Thu Ha paid commission to Mr. N. twice, with the total amount of both times being only 20.5 million VND. Seeing that the business was not as Ha had committed, Mr. N. asked to be returned the money he had contributed, but Ha kept making excuses. During this time, Ha also tricked him into needing money to buy a car, buy a hotel, repair the car... and was lent 1.25 billion VND by Mr. N.

Using the same trick, in May 2022, Ha bragged to Mr. Ngo Quang M. (born in 1996), residing in Dien Thanh commune, Dien Chau district, that he had connections so he could buy cars cheaper than the market price. Ha promised to help Mr. M. buy two Hyundai Tucson and Hyundai Santafe cars for 800 million VND each without commission.

Trusting the information Ha provided, at the end of May 2022, Mr. M. transferred money to this woman four times, a total of 1.6 billion VND. However, after the commitment period expired, Cao Thi Thu Ha did not buy a car for Mr. M. but instead appropriated this money.

The investigation determined that from the beginning of 2022 until her arrest, Cao Thi Thu Ha had committed 4 fraud cases, appropriating property of victims with an amount of more than 4.3 billion VND.

"Explode" to create a cover

Cao Thi Thu Ha was born into a well-behaved family, with an intelligent and quick mind, so her parents gave her a proper education. When she reached the age of marriage, Ha developed feelings for a boy from a neighboring village, and her family nurtured her to build a home. However, after many business events, Ha and her husband had conflicts and "went their separate ways". It is known that Ha used her small capital to invest in real estate, but because she did not understand the market well, Ha suffered losses and got into debt.

Not only that, but also not having a stable job, Cao Thi Thu Ha came up with the idea.Cheatappropriating other people's money. Ha provided false information such as being able to buy a car at a cheap price, applying for a job at a bank to appropriate money from the victims. To carry out her plan, Ha did not hesitate to "share" that she had a powerful family background, her father was the leader of a social organization, her family members held important positions in the army, and she herself worked in a department-level unit in the military region.

Ha "boasts" that she knows leaders of agencies and businesses, can get jobs, buy cars at cheaper prices than the market... and is trusted by many people. Not only that, with her good-looking appearance and not being afraid to "polish" herself with generosity and luxury items, Ha easily gains the trust of others.

In addition, when victims are looking for a job, they all want to quickly get a job with a good position. Not only Ha but also other scammers take advantage of this weakness to benefit themselves. When hearing the certain "promises", the victims ignore the need to carefully research the recruitment information of agencies, departments, branches, and localities that are publicly announced on mass media as well as the intermediary himself.

Even the victims in the Cao Thi Thu Ha case, because they trusted the “cover”, did not hesitate to hand over their assets, and when discovered, they “lost both money and property”. Meanwhile, the victims themselves did not understand that spending a large sum of money to “buy and apply for jobs” not only contained financial risks but also legal risks, because this is a prohibited illegal act.

Go to court

On August 17, 2023, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial for defendant Cao Thi Thu Ha for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property. Since Ha was arrested by the police, Ha's biological parents had to raise Ha's two young grandchildren, so they could not attend the trial of their only daughter.

When asked by the jury about the reason for her debt, defendant Ha gave a vague statement, then admitted that she had suffered losses due to her investment in real estate in Phu Quoc. At the trial, the defendant stated that she had committed fraud against many victims because of her debt and need for money to pay it off. However, the defendant did not elaborate on the debts. Defendant Ha also did not admit to having "bragged" to the victims about her family background, status, and relationships.

One victim said that he transferred the money because he trusted Ha’s family background. Ha even called this person to the district police headquarters to sign the purchase and sale documents. The victims who attended the court stated that since the fraud was exposed, they had not received any compensation from the defendant, so they demanded that the defendant return all the money he had appropriated.

The Trial Panel determined that the defendant’s criminal acts were particularly serious, infringing on the property rights of others. After a comprehensive review of the case, the Trial Panel of the first instance sentenced Cao Thi Thu Ha to 20 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property; forcing the defendant to return all the money she had appropriated from the victims.