'Monster woman' swindles, steals, forges seals to appropriate property of many people

On March 23, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first instance trial of defendant Tran Thi Thuan (born 1988), residing in Quynh Hong commune, Quynh Luu district, on four charges: Abuse of trust to appropriate property, Use of fake documents of agencies and organizations, Fraudulent appropriation of property and Theft of property.

According to the indictment, from January to November 2022, Tran Thi Thuan committed the following 3 crimes:

First act, on January 19, 2022, Thuan went to a company located in Vinh City, met Mr. Nguyen Thanh H. to rent a Toyota self-driving car (priced at 639 million VND) to transport fruit. The two parties signed a 1-month car rental contract, priced at 1.2 million VND/day.

After receiving the car, because he needed money to spend, Thuan went online to hire an unknown person to forge two documents: the car purchase contract and the car registration certificate. Then, Thuan brought the car and the forged documents to meet Mr. Nguyen Van T. (residing in Quynh Hau commune, Quynh Luu district) to pawn for a total of 470 million VND. Thuan spent all of the money for personal use.

Defendant Tran Thi Thuan. Photo: Tran Vu

For the second crime, around February 2022, because he needed money to spend, Thuan had the idea of ​​defrauding Ms. Nguyen Thi V. (residing in Nghi An commune, Vinh city). Although he did not know which plot of land in Minh Hop commune, Quy Hop district was for sale, Thuan told Ms. V. that he had a plot of land for sale, priced at 300 million VND and had to "deposit" 120 million VND to buy the land.

Because of her trust, Ms. V. borrowed money to transfer 120 million VND to Thuan. When the deadline came and Thuan did not fulfill the agreement, Ms. V. asked Thuan to take her to see the land. At this time, Thuan took Ms. V. to see an empty plot of land in Minh Hop commune, not sure who it belonged to, but confirmed that it was the plot of land that had been "deposited".

While the Nghe An Provincial Police Department was investigating the first and second acts, Thuan continued to commit the crime of property theft. Accordingly, on November 16, 2022, while drinking coffee in Quynh Giang Commune, Quynh Luu District, Thuan secretly stole a phone (worth more than 3 million VND) from the shop owner's daughter. The theft was exposed and Thuan was arrested.

At the trial, the defendant admitted all his crimes. The defendant said that because he was in debt and needed money, he committed fraud against the victims. At the trial, the defendant apologized to the victims. Before the trial took place, Thuan returned 380 million VND to Mr. H.

After considering the case in its entirety, the panel sentenced Tran Thi Thuan to a total of 20 years and 6 months in prison. Of which, 13 years for the crime of Abuse of Trust to appropriate property, 3 years for the crime of Using documents of an organization, 4 years for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property, and 6 months for the crime of Theft of property. In civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to return the money she had appropriated from the victims.