The scam involving "obtaining land ownership certificates" to seize assets by gambling addicts.
To fund his gambling addiction, Le Thanh Hung employed sophisticated tactics to commit land-related fraud. He purchased fake land ownership certificates online, spread false information, and fabricated a story about the "Director of the Nghe An Provincial Land Registration Office being arrested" to extort ransom money from people for the fake certificates.
Sophisticated scam tactics
Le Thanh Hung (33 years old), residing in Dien Ky commune, Dien Chau district, works primarily in scrap metal collection. Despite having only a 9/12 education level, he used sophisticated methods to defraud and embezzle over 2.5 billion VND.
Hung's modus operandi was to boast about his ability to handle land-related procedures such as obtaining land use certificates, subdividing land, and changing land use purposes, thereby swindling money from his victims. Mr. Ho Ngoc L. (born in 1972, residing in Dien Van commune, Dien Chau district) was one of the victims who fell into Hung's trap.
In July 2022, knowing that Hung provided land-related services, Mr. L. asked him to handle the procedures for obtaining a land use right certificate. During the application process from August 2022 to June 2023, Hung gave many false reasons such as needing money for "bribes" or "compensation" to request Mr. L. to transfer money. Afterwards, Hung edited a photo of a land use right certificate in the names of Mr. L. and his wife and sent it to Mr. L. via Zalo.
Next, Hung provided information that the Director of the Land Registration Office of Nghe An province had been arrested and that Mr. L.'s land title certificate was being held for investigation. Hung demanded that Mr. L. pay 200 million VND to get the certificate back. Trusting him, Mr. L. gave Hung money several times, totaling over 940 million VND.
Using similar tactics, Hung defrauded Mr. Tran Van B. (born in 1944, residing in Nghi Quang commune, Nghi Loc district) of a large sum of money. Hung claimed he could handle the procedures for renewing the land use right certificate and subdividing the land to gain Mr. B.'s trust. Initially, Hung only asked Mr. B. for a small amount of money for "expenses."
Later, Hung told the victim to give him a larger sum of money as a "bonus" or to "facilitate" the procedures. When urged by Mr. B., Hung ordered a fake land title deed online for 5 million VND to give to him. The total amount Hung defrauded Mr. B. of was 210 million VND. Hung used the stolen money for online gambling and personal expenses.
Investigators determined that between July 2022 and July 2023, using fraudulent land-related procedures, Le Thanh Hung defrauded seven victims, appropriating over 2.5 billion VND.
During the fraudulent process, fearing discovery by the victim, Hung forged land registration application receipts, using a fake seal of the Dien Chau District Land Registration Office to stamp the fake receipts before giving them to the victim. In addition, Hung also ordered fake land ownership certificates ("red books") online and gave them to the victim.
For the above actions, Le Thanh Hung was prosecuted and brought to trial on three charges: Fraudulent appropriation of property, Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations, and Use of forged seals and documents of agencies and organizations.
Facing four charges simultaneously.
At the trial, the defendant Hung admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. The defendant claimed that he had "connections" and had previously helped some people resolve paperwork related to land.
Later, due to losses from online gambling, the defendant conceived the idea of defrauding people who needed to resolve land-related procedures. In the presence of the victims, the defendant offered an apology. Regarding the money he had embezzled, Hung stated that he was currently unable to repay the debt.
Defendant Hung explained that his wife is unemployed, his mother suffers from severe tuberculosis and is frequently hospitalized, leaving the family financially in a dire situation. He has contacted many relatives, but none are able to compensate the victims on his behalf. He promised that after serving his prison sentence, he will work and earn money to repay the victims.
In his final statement before the court adjourned to deliberate, the defendant pleaded for leniency. “My father has passed away, and now only my mother remains, often ill. My greatest fear is that when I return home, I will no longer have the chance to see my mother. I beg the court to consider a lighter sentence,” Hung stated before the court.
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The trial court determined that the defendant's criminal act was dangerous to society. In this case, the defendant had aggravating circumstances including recidivism, committing the crime two or more times, and committing the crime against a person over 70 years old...
After considering all aspects of the case, the panel of judges sentenced Le Thanh Hung to 16 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property; 6 months in prison for forging documents of an organization; and 6 months in prison for using forged seals and documents of an organization.
The defendant committed the crime while still serving a 20-month suspended sentence with a 40-month probation period for trafficking prohibited goods. Therefore, the court converted the suspended sentence to imprisonment, requiring the defendant to serve 20 months in prison for trafficking prohibited goods. Thus, defendant Hung must serve a total sentence of 18 years and 8 months in prison.
Although the defendant has paid the price with many years in prison, the sadness of the victims still lingers. They don't know when they will get back the money that Hung defrauded and stole from them. Some of them lost billions of dong…