Drug addict impersonates police to defraud and appropriate property
(Baonghean.vn) - Lacking money to buy drugs, Tuan called the mother and wife of his friend who used drugs with him and then claimed to be a police officer to defraud and appropriate more than 17 million VND.
On February 15, Vinh City Police announced that the Investigation Police Agency had prosecuted and detained Tran Van Tuan (born in 1984, residing in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city) for 2 months to investigate the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Tuan was arrested by Truong Thi Ward Police (Vinh City) on January 21, after the unit verified a petition from a local resident accusing Tuan of impersonating a police officer and committing fraud to appropriate property.
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| Subject Tran Van Tuan. Photo: Khanh Linh |
According to Ms. H. (residing in Truong Thi ward), at 10:00 a.m. on November 24, 2018, she received a phone call from number 070.522.6820, a man claiming to be Hung, working at Vinh City Police.
A man named Hung said that he is currently completing the paperwork to send Ms. H's husband to a drug rehabilitation center. If she does not want her husband to go to drug rehabilitation, she must give Hung money.
Believing her, Ms. H. went to the Vinh City Police Station and gave Hung (actually Tuan) 5 million VND. Tuan asked her not to reveal the incident to anyone, otherwise he would continue to arrest her husband and take him to rehab.
Not stopping there, Tuan repeatedly asked Ms. H. to give money at many different locations to cancel all of her husband's drug rehabilitation records or to pay for a passport, pocket money... The total amount of money Ms. H. gave Tuan was 12.9 million VND.
Using the above method, Tran Van Tuan continued to impersonate a police officer to defraud and appropriate property from Ms. HKL (Ms. H.'s mother-in-law). Specifically, on November 30, Tuan appropriated 2 million VND from Ms. L. On December 1, Tuan appropriated 1.6 million VND from Ms. L. and 3 days later, Tuan appropriated another 500,000 VND from her.
On January 19, 2019, Ms. H. filed a complaint with the Truong Thi Ward Police, stating that she had been defrauded many times by a subject claiming to be named Hung, an officer working at the Vinh City Police Department, for a total of 17,050 million VND.
After a period of investigation and verification, Truong Thi Ward Police identified Tran Van Tuan as the subject impersonating a police officer named Hung to defraud Ms. H and her child. On January 21, Truong Thi Ward Police arrested Tran Van Tuan at his home.
At the investigation agency, Tuan confessed that he had been addicted to drugs for many years and had used drugs with Ms. H's husband many times. Because he needed money to buy drugs, Tuan created the above scenario to defraud and appropriate money from Ms. H and her children.
According to the police, Tran Van Tuan is a long-time drug addict. In 2018, Tuan impersonated a police officer and received nearly 10 million VND from a shop owner to do business on the sidewalk. For this act, Tuan was sentenced by the Vinh City People's Court to 18 months in prison with a suspended sentence for "fraudulent appropriation of property".