5 years in prison for fraudster, property appropriator
(Baonghean.vn) - Because he was greedy and wanted money to spend, Liem bought a Facebook account named "Anh Pham" to post articles advertising foreign currency exchange services, then texted the victims to transfer money to him and blocked their contact to steal all the money.
On the morning of November 30, 2022, Tan Ky District People's Court tried the criminal case against Le Thanh Liem (born 2000), residing in Quan Nha village, Tien Hai commune, Phu Ly city, Ha Nam province for the crime of "Fraud and appropriation of property".
Since mid-2020, Le Thanh Liem has regularly accessed the Internet to make money online by running Facebook advertising services. Le Thanh Liem searched for products on many websites and forums.Facebook account, BM (Facebook Business) account and post information about renting other people's bank accounts to run ads.
In early December 2021, Le Thanh Liem bought a Facebook account named “Anh Pham” for 30,000 VND on the website. On December 16, 2021, Mr. Bui Van Hoa (born in 2001), residing in Do Tan village, Bac Son commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi city, saw on Facebook that the account “Anh Pham” posted an article about renting a bank account, so he used his Facebook account “Bui Van Hoa” to message the account “Anh Pham”.
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| Defendant Le Thanh Liem at the trial. Photo: Phuong Hao |
Le Thanh Liem replied to a message on Facebook with the account “Anh Pham” that he needed to rent an account to run ads, so Bui Van Hoa agreed to let Le Thanh Liem rent two accounts both under the name BUI VAN HOA for 250,000 VND/account/month. After Mr. Bui Van Hoa provided his username, password and OTP code, Le Thanh Liem registered Smart OTP on his phone (at this time Le Thanh Liem was using a Vsmart Joy 3 phone and a Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro).
Because previously, the Facebook account “Anh Pham” of a large, reputable Group with many likes and followers, regularly posted articles about foreign currency exchange services, payment intermediaries, finding KYC people... therefore, Le Thanh Liem had the idea of using the Facebook account “Anh Pham” to continue posting many articles advertising foreign currency exchange services that were not true so that when someone in need of foreign currency exchange texted to contact, Liem would give the rented account number to transfer money and then block the contact to appropriate the entire amount.
On January 23, 2022, Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang (residing in Doi Che hamlet, Giai Xuan commune, Tan Ky district) needed to exchange Vietnamese currency to US dollars, so he used the Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" to access the Group "Paypal Vietnam Community" to find someone to provide money exchange services.
Mr. Sang saw that the account "Anh Pham" was a reputable account posting an article advertising foreign currency exchange services, so he texted this account. Le Thanh Liem texted Mr. Sang that he had US dollars to exchange, so the two sides agreed on an exchange rate of 224,000,000 VND to exchange for 10,000 USD. Liem gave Mr. Sang Vietcombank account number 1024,602,925 under the name BUI VAN HOA and would transfer 10,000 USD to Mr. Sang. However, after Mr. Sang transferred the above amount to Le Thanh Liem, Liem blocked the Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" and deleted the account "Anh Pham" to appropriate the above amount, then used it to buy BM accounts, buy VIA to run Facebook ads and spent it all for personal use.
On September 28, 2022, after many unsuccessful attempts to contact the Facebook account "Anh Pham", Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang went to Tan Ky District Police to report. On October 7, 2022, Le Thanh Liem learned that the Facebook account "Che Quang Duy Sang" in Tan Ky District, Nghe An Province had reported to the police, so Liem went to Tan Ky District Police, Nghe An Province to surrender, confessing all his crimes. Le Thanh Liem's testimony was consistent with the documents and evidence collected.
During the investigation, the investigation agency had sufficient grounds to conclude that Le Thanh Liem had appropriated 224,000,000 VND.(by Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang).
Defendant Le Thanh Liem voluntarily surrendered, during the investigation he confessed honestly, repented and influenced his family to fully compensate for the damage to Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang, at the same time Mr. Sang submitted a petition to reduce the defendant's criminal responsibility.
Le Thanh Liem has compensated Mr. Che Quang Duy Sang with the amount of 224,000,000 VND.,Mr. Sang has no further requests.
Regarding Mr. Bui Van Hoa, who rented the bank account to Le Thanh Liem, the investigation determined that the purpose of Mr. Hoa renting the bank account to Liem was to run advertisements. Mr. Hoa did not know that Liem used the account to commit a crime, so Mr. Bui Van Hoa did not commit a crime.
At the end of the trial, the panel sentenced Le Thanh Liem to 5 years in prison.