Hiding behind a temple to defraud, 'female monster' appropriated more than 18 billion VND

On August 13, the Hanoi People's Court held a first-instance trial of the case of Fraudulent Appropriation of Property against defendant Le Thi Hong Hoa (born 1984, Thuy Lam Commune, Dong Anh, Hanoi). Le Thi Hong Hoa was prosecuted for appropriating money from 6 victims, with a total amount of more than 18 billion VND.

According to the indictment and the trial proceedings, Hoa is a fraudster with a criminal record and is currently under house arrest. Since 2017, Hoa has used the fake name Quynh and regularly visited a famous Zen monastery in Hanoi to do volunteer work. At the temple, Hoa got acquainted with Buddhists and monks and then "bragged" that he worked at the Government Office, had relationships with many leaders and owned a large amount of assets. Hoa also borrowed and rented luxury cars to go to the temple to create an image of a rich and powerful person.

Le Thi Hong Hoa used the cover of a "pure Buddhist" to defraud and appropriate nearly 18 billion VND in assets. Photo: Trong Phu

Through many methods, Hoa asked the monks in the temple to speak well of her to gain the trust of Buddhists. Through that, Hoa searched for "prey" to commit fraud.

One of Hoa’s victims was Ms. Doan Thi HA (born 1961, Dong Da, Hanoi). Ms. HA met Hoa in a pagoda and heard Hoa say that she had many connections and could “get” a red book for difficult cases. At that time, Ms. HA was living in a house in Phuong Lien ward, Dong Da without a red book, so she asked Hoa to help her.

Hoa demanded 3.5 billion VND to make a red book. Believing Hoa's words to be true, Ms. HA gave this person 2.9 billion VND in advance. After that, Hoa lured Ms. HA to invest in a car business with high interest rates, every 1 billion VND would earn 200 million VND in interest after 1 month. Ms. HA believed her words so she saved up and borrowed money to give to Hoa. The total amount that Ms. HA gave Hoa was 8.4 billion VND. But in reality, the red book could not be made and the car business was nowhere to be seen.

Also under the guise of a "pure Buddhist" and the tricks of "making a red book", "buying cheap cars" or "contributing capital to do business", Hoa defrauded a total of 6 victims with a total amount of more than 18 billion VND.

In court, defendant Le Thi Hong Hoa stated that she gave more than 18 billion VND to a person named Nguyen Hai. Afterwards, Hoa did not know where Hai took the money. With this unreasonable statement, the panel of judges stated: “The defendant has many sophisticated tricks in defrauding and disposing of assets. When the police arrested the defendant, no assets were recovered. In court, the defendant did not honestly confess, so there is no basis to apply mitigating circumstances.”

At the end of the trial, the panel sentenced defendant Le Thi Hong Hoa to life in prison for fraud and appropriation of property./.

Trong Phu