Inter-provincial war invalids trafficking ring: Fraudsters and profiteers need to be severely punished
(Baonghean) - The "fake war invalids" ring has caused many people to lose both money and health, affecting the reputation of relevant agencies, causing resentment and bad public opinion among the people.
"The fox borrows the tiger's power"
During the investigation, we found that the "henchmen" and the leaders of the policy-running fraud ring do not have stable jobs, do not have any functions or duties in reviewing policies for others, but still stand up to "do" policies for war invalids and Agent Orange victims. Meanwhile, the receipt of documents for policy review must be received and reviewed by competent authorities, according to regulations from the Commune Military Command to the District Military Command, the Provincial Military Command, the Political Department of Military Region IV, then submitted to the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, for review and approval according to State regulations.
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| The case file has been established by the authorities. |
However, taking advantage of the difficulties and shortcomings in the process of making documents and procedures for reviewing and approving policies; the lack of knowledge, gullibility and even greed of some people, the scammers introduced themselves as having close relationships with those who have the functions and authority in reviewing and implementing policies, "just need documents proving that you have been in the army to be able to apply for the policy", "the more money, the higher the disability rate" and "it will definitely be done because this is following the backlog procedures", even using themselves as evidence, to create trust for the victims, then receive money and documents from many people.
Like Ta Thi Van, who introduced herself as having a husband who was a Lieutenant Colonel in the army, working in the policy sector (Van and her husband sold their house and divorced after the network was exposed, Van later fled), in the process of contacting the "henchmen", she organized meetings, meals, promised the subjects that she knew this person or that person, and gave them their contact phone numbers as proof. Ho Thanh Tung bragged to everyone that he was entitled to the war invalid regime because Ta Thi Van helped him run it. When the "fish took the bait", these subjects continued to promise and organize for those who had paid to go for a "physical" examination at Military Hospital 4 and Nghe An General Hospital, but in reality they only gave them a normal health examination, then told them to rest assured and wait from 6 months to 1 year for a decision on the regime.
Inter-provincial war invalids trafficking ring: Boss flees, minions sell house to return money
(Baonghean) - Receiving a series of applications with an average of 30 - 35 million VND per person to apply for the disabled soldier regime, the brokers thought they would receive hundreds to billions of VND in difference. However, when the case was exposed, these people had to sell their houses to pay back the money under pressure from the people.
Inter-provincial war invalids trafficking ring: Thousands of people fall into the trap
(Baonghean) - Taking advantage of the desire to enjoy the regime of those who participated in the resistance war but lost their documents, not enough to complete the procedures according to regulations, for a long time, the leaders of the fraud ring "running" war invalids and their "henchmen" received about 1,200 documents along with tens of billions of dong from the victims.
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| One of the series of messages that Ta Thi Van's family sent to her "henchmen" to make news - Photo: PV |
According to the investigators handling this case, in fact, after receiving the money, the scammers did not go through anyone to "run" for the people but used the money for personal purposes, such as playing the lottery. Therefore, some people, after submitting their documents and money, waited for a long time without results and came to claim their money. At this time, the scammers continued to make promises, and those who insisted on paying were not paid in full. And in order to have money to pay those who were scammed before, these subjects continued to scam others, so the number of victims was increasing.
According to the investigators, in this fraud ring, there are knowledgeable people who have worked in policies and regimes, and know that in the past in Nghe An, there were cases of falsifying documents and fraudulently running away fake war invalids that were brought to trial, and cases of “fake war invalids” who “enjoyed real regimes” that had their benefits revoked. However, “greed blinded them” and they assisted the fraudsters, helping the fraudsters “have a place to live”.
Need to be handled seriously
Preferential treatment for people with revolutionary contributions is a major policy of the Party and State, a special treatment, a responsibility, a recognition and honor for their contributions to the country. Preferential treatment for people with revolutionary contributions demonstrates the responsibility of the whole society in "repaying gratitude" to people with revolutionary contributions. To concretize the above policy, up to now, in terms of law, many documents have been issued to institutionalize the policies of the Party and State, creating a legal corridor for agencies, organizations, families and individuals to actively participate in the work of gratitude, repaying gratitude, taking care of people with revolutionary contributions, contributing to ensuring social justice and creating conditions for people with revolutionary contributions to build their lives, continuing to affirm their role in the community and society. For example, in Nghe An today, the province is managing and paying monthly subsidies to over 75,000 policy beneficiaries with a payment budget of over 100 billion VND/month.
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| The fraud case is complicated, so the authorities had to separate it into many sets of documents - Photo: PV |
Although the legal policies so far have basically met and created conditions to identify and properly recognize meritorious people, there are still many shortcomings and negative aspects in the implementation process, leading to false declarations to take advantage of the policy, while those who have truly meritorious people, due to lack of documents to prove their merit according to regulations, have not yet enjoyed the regime.
From this reality, some people do not have enough documents to prove and enjoy the regime, as well as some people who are not eligible for preferential policies also want to enjoy this policy, giving rise to the mentality of "if you want to enjoy the regime, you have to run". Taking advantage of that mentality, the subjects have used tricks to promise that they have acquaintances who can "run", from there they receive money, documents and then appropriate them.
The behavior of these scammers has affected the reputation of the authorities, especially the agencies related to the review of policies for people with meritorious services, causing resentment and negative public opinion among the people, affecting the people's trust in the Party and the State in implementing policies, especially the trust of those who have fought to protect the Fatherland and have contributed to the country. In addition, it has also caused billions of dong in damage to the people.
The behavior of the ringleaders of the inter-provincial war invalid trafficking ring is dangerous to society, has committed the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property" as stipulated in Article 139 of the Penal Code and needs to be strictly handled before the law.
Currently, the ringleader Ta Thi Van, after escaping, has been arrested by the authorities, prosecuted and will be brought to trial for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property"; the subject Ho Thanh Tung is on the run, the police investigation agency has issued a wanted notice, decided to separate the case, and will handle it later if caught.
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| Complaint against fake war invalids ring sent to authorities - Photo: PV |
Then, there will be appropriate sentences for the scammers, but sadly, as some victims told us: "The incident lasted for many years with hundreds, thousands of people being scammed, the amount of money up to hundreds of millions of dong, tens of billions of dong, how could the relevant agencies not know?" and "If they had not met, received messages, phone calls from people working at the agency related to the policy review, they would not have easily given money to scammers like that"!?