The labor export scam perpetrated by a female director.

Many workers fall into the "trap".

Ms. Minh (from Quang Binh province) does not have a stable job, so she harbors the dream of going abroad.labor exportWhen someone introduced her to Ms. Nguyen Thi Ho (born in 1951), residing in Vinh City (Nghe An province), Ms. Minh immediately went to meet her. Ms. Ho promised she could arrange for Ms. Minh and her husband to go to Germany. However, later, the broker informed them that they could not travel to Germany and instead directed Ms. Minh and her husband to South Korea.

According to Ms. Minh's account, during the meetings, Ms. Ho assured her that she had reliable connections, so Ms. Minh borrowed money from her, giving her cash and dollars on several occasions, totaling 338 million VND. She reassured herself that after going to South Korea, she would work diligently to repay the borrowed money. However, this woman did not realize that she had been deceived.

Mrs. Tam (from Quang Binh province) faced a similar situation. Wanting her son to go to South Korea quickly and easily, she sought help from Mrs. Ho, who had connections for labor export. After a few exchanges, Mrs. Ho finalized the cost of going to South Korea for work at 230 million VND. After paying the full amount, Mrs. Tam's son was taken to a company based in Hanoi to attend a few training sessions, with a guarantee of employment in South Korea. But then, it was just a series of days waiting… to fly.

The victims attended the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

The victim who was scammed out of a larger sum of money was Mr. Phuc, residing in Hung Nguyen district (Nghe An province). Hearing that Ms. Ho had connections to send people to South Korea without rigorous exams, he sought her out, expressing his desire to become a... shift leader. Ms. Ho raised the price to 14,000 USD, equivalent to nearly 330 million VND. After numerous rescheduled departure dates with various excuses, Mr. Phuc finally realized he had been scammed.

The three cases mentioned above are victims of a labor export scam. These individuals only discovered that the person behind it all was the female director when they contacted Ms. Ho to demand their money back.Duong Thi Hue(Born in 1985), residing in Thua town, Luong Tai district (Bac Ninh province). Hue is the Director of Global Happinees Co., Ltd., headquartered in Bac Ninh city. Although the company was only granted a certificate for self-funded study abroad consulting services and was not licensed to operate in the field of sending Vietnamese people to work abroad in general, and to South Korea in particular, Hue committed fraud by sending people to work in South Korea.

Scam tactics

The fraudulent scheme employed by the female director involved exploiting her acquaintance with Ms. Nguyen Thi Ho and a woman named Nguyen Thi Xuyen (born in 1989), residing in Bac Giang province, to spread false information. The director claimed her company could arrange for workers to go to South Korea for a total cost of $6,000 USD. Workers did not need to learn the language; they only needed to submit documents including their identity card, household registration book, and passport, with the company handling the rest. For brokers, a commission of $1,000-$2,000 USD would be paid for each successful referral to work in South Korea.

After approaching Ms. Ho and Ms. Xuyen, and seeing that they were still skeptical, Hue invited them directly to the company. There, the brokers saw many people studying Korean and believed the female director's words. Therefore, when they returned home, Ms. Ho and Ms. Xuyen spread the word to their relatives and friends, so that anyone who needed help could contact them, and they would assist in getting work in South Korea.

Within a short period, many people sought Ms. Ho's help. Ms. Ho personally received the documents and money from 18 workers, then took them to Global Happinees Co., Ltd. to meet Hue for consultation and to receive their documents, deposit money, and processing fees. To gain the workers' trust, Hue also used another deceptive tactic: issuing fake visa codes and then demanding additional payments through Ms. Ho. Hue did not process the overseas employment applications but used all the money to pay off personal debts and for personal expenses.

Investigators determined that from the end of 2017 to October 2018, Duong Thi Hue exploited Ms. Ho and Ms. Xuyen to defraud 41 people of a total of over 3.2 billion VND through a scheme involving promising overseas employment. Hue's victims were located in various provinces and cities, including Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh.

Appropriate sentence

On July 14th, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Duong Thi Hue (born in 1985), residing in Thua town, Luong Tai district (Bac Ninh province), for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

On the day of the trial, many victims attended. They presented to the court how Hue's fraudulent actions had plunged their families into hardship and debt. The victims demanded that the defendant return the money that Hue had embezzled.

Standing before the witness stand, the defendant admitted to the fraudulent act. Regarding the motive for the fraud, Hue stated that due to business losses and inability to repay debts, she conceived the idea of ​​committing fraud. She claimed that the money she obtained from the victims had been spent on personal expenses. At the trial, the defendant Hue apologized and promised to try to influence her family to return the money to the victims. The female defendant also presented her family circumstances, stating that she was divorced, in order to consider mitigating circumstances for a reduced sentence.

The trial panel determined that the defendant's fraudulent actions violated the law and disrupted public order, thus requiring strict punishment. However, in this case, several mitigating circumstances should also be considered, such as honest confession, remorse, and partial compensation for the damage caused. After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the court sentenced the defendant, Duong Thi Hue, to 18 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property," and ordered her to return the stolen money to the victims.

Defendant Duong Thi Hue. Photo: Tran Vu

Regarding Ms. Nguyen Thi Ho, when the matter came to light, she hastily returned the difference of nearly 900 million VND that she had collected from the workers. In this case, Ms. Ho was also deceived by Hue out of 65 million VND, which was the money she paid to have her nephew processed for going abroad. The investigating agency determined that Ms. Ho did not have the intention to deceive and misappropriate the workers' property; therefore, her actions did not show signs of complicity with Hue, and in fact, she was also a victim, so the police investigation agency did not consider criminal responsibility for Ms. Ho. Similarly, Nguyen Thi Xuyen was also not considered criminally responsible because there were no signs of complicity with Hue.

Thus, Duong Thi Hue's fraudulent behavior has been punished with a fitting sentence. However, Nguyen Thi Ho and Nguyen Thi Xuyen are also to blame, as they did not know Hue or Global Happinees Co., Ltd. well, yet still introduced and brokered the scheme, leading many workers to be deceived. This serves as another cautionary lesson for people who are looking for overseas employment: they need to thoroughly research and choose reputable companies to avoid losing money and suffering harm.

Tran Vu - Dang Nguyen