Authorities arrest lottery scheme organizer for defrauding over 3.7 billion VND.
Having defrauded numerous members of a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) of over 3.7 billion VND, Le Thi Y Nhu has been charged and taken into custody by the police.
On December 28, the An Giang Provincial Police Investigation Agency announced that it had issued a decision to initiate a criminal case, indict the suspect, and order the temporary detention of Le Thi Y Nhu (43 years old, residing in Binh Chanh commune, Chau Phu district, An Giang province) for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property".
During the investigation, the police determined that around 2007, Nhu got married and moved to live at her husband's house (in Binh Chanh commune).
By 2014, Nhu used her parents-in-law's reputation to open a rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) for many local people to participate in; she organized ROSCA draws and distributed the winnings to the members in full.
From October 2016 to March 2021, due to needing money for family expenses and personal spending, Nhu conceived the idea of embezzling money from the members of the rotating savings scheme. Accordingly, Nhu opened 41 additional rotating savings schemes of various types, totaling 1,427 shares with 160 participating members.
During the time she organized these informal lending schemes, by falsifying names, Nhu embezzled over 770 million VND from 137 members.
Furthermore, taking advantage of the fact that the members of the rotating savings and credit association (ROSCA) did not attend the voting, Nhu also arbitrarily took over 460 shares of the ROSCA, thereby embezzling nearly 3 billion VND. According to the police, Nhu embezzled a total of more than 3.7 billion VND.
Around March 2021, due to her inability to make payments, Nhu declared bankruptcy.
Currently, the case is still under investigation by the authorities.