What penalties can fraudsters face?
(Baonghean.vn) - Recently, online scams and text message scams involving recruitment for collaborators and easy jobs with high salaries, targeting gullible individuals, have become increasingly common. I would like to ask what penalties these scammers might face for such illegal activities?
Reply:Fraudulent appropriation of property is a crime belonging to the group of crimes against property as stipulated in Article 174 of the 2015 Penal Code and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Penal Code in 2017:
* Basic penalty: non-custodial correctional punishment up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years in one of the following cases:
+ Assets valued from 2,000,000 VND to less than 50,000,000 VND.
+ Property valued at less than 2,000,000 VND but falling under one of the following cases: Having been previously penalized for administrative violations related to property appropriation and committing the offense again; Having been convicted of this crime or one of the crimes stipulated in Articles 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175, and 290 of this Code, and not yet having their criminal record expunged, and committing the offense again; Causing adverse impact on security, order, and social safety; The property is the primary means of livelihood for the victim and their family.
* Frame 2: Imprisonment from 2 to 7 years for one of the following cases:
+ Organized;
+ It has a professional nature;
+ Appropriating property valued from 50,000,000 VND to less than 200,000,000 VND;
+ Dangerous recidivism;
+ Abusing one's position, authority, or the name of an agency or organization;
+ Using cunning and deceitful tactics;
* Clause 3: Imprisonment from 7 to 15 years for one of the following cases:
+ Appropriating property valued from 200,000,000 VND to less than 500,000,000 VND
+ Taking advantage of natural disasters and epidemics.
* Frame 4: Imprisonment from 12 to 20 years or life imprisonment in one of the following cases:
+ Appropriating property valued at 500,000,000 VND or more
+ Taking advantage of wartime circumstances and a state of emergency.
* Additional penalties: Offenders may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, prohibited from holding office, prohibited from practicing a profession or performing a specific job for 1 to 5 years, or have part or all of their assets confiscated.
Thus, the crime of fraud and misappropriation of property is understood as the act of using deceptive means to cause the owner or manager of property to mistakenly hand over the property to the perpetrator in order to misappropriate that property. Accordingly, the minimum penalty is non-custodial correctional labor for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years, the maximum penalty is imprisonment from 12 years to 20 years or life imprisonment. The perpetrator may also be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000, prohibited from holding office, prohibited from practicing a profession or performing a certain job for 1 year to 5 years, or have part or all of their property confiscated.