The scam tactics of the female police captain.
Taking advantage of her profession at the time, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha (Vinh City) defrauded many people of more than 20 billion VND. More than 10 years have passed, and although Ha has paid the price for her crimes, many victims still don't know when they will get their money back...
From a vacant plot of land…
Born into a well-educated family with a stable job, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha (born in 1980), residing in Truong Thi Ward, Vinh City (Nghe An province), did not want to improve her career or take care of her family, but instead desired to get rich quickly. Taking advantage of her position as a police officer in Nghe An province, Ha created a "facade" of a wealthy person to carry out her fraudulent schemes. With many designer clothes and luxury cars worth billions of dong, Ha frequently boasted to people about owning many valuable plots of land in the city.
After gaining trust, Ha used every trick in the book to borrow money. To obtain "investment" funds from acquaintances, Ha even resorted to selling land fictitious plots, using a single land use right certificate to sell to multiple people and mortgage it to banks.
The first scam occurred in 2007, when Ha participated in a bidding process to purchase a plot of land worth 100 million VND in Cua Lo town. However, after making the deposit, Ha handed over 145 million VND to Ms. X. When she received the land title deed in her and her husband's names, Ha did not give it to Ms. X. to complete the transfer procedures, but kept it instead. Later, Ha used the land title deed to borrow 1.9 billion VND from Ms. Le TH (Ha's aunt), claiming it was to pay for another plot of land. After defrauding Ms. TH, Ha continued to hold onto the land title deed and had her mother register it in her name to mortgage it with Saigon - Hanoi Joint Stock Bank for a loan of 700 million VND.
Furthermore, at the end of July 2011, Ha again went to Ms. TH's house to ask to borrow 3 billion VND. When asked why she needed the money, Ha replied, "I need the money to buy land for a serious and reliable business, you can rest assured." However, seeing that Ms. TH and her husband seemed skeptical, Ha asserted that she was ready to mortgage and authorize the disposal of two plots of land, including the one where her family lived. Based on Ha's assurance, Ms. TH and her husband wrote a loan agreement for 3 billion VND.
Notably, after receiving money from her aunt's family, Ha brazenly took the land deed of the plot she had promised to authorize and mortgaged it to another person without consulting Ms. TH.
The investigation revealed that the total amount of money Ha borrowed from Ms. TH amounted to 6 billion VND (accounting for 1/3 of the total amount owed by the victims in the case). According to Ms. TH's statement to the investigating agency, because she trusted Ha, who was a civil servant and also a relative, she happily agreed to borrow money without any suspicion.
Tactics for soliciting "investment" money
Around the same time, Ha also targeted her colleagues. Knowing that Ms. Nguyen Thi L., a colleague of Ha's, had recently sold land and had a large sum of money, Ha offered to lend her money to refinance a bank loan with a fair interest rate, promising to repay both principal and interest once Ha refinanced and sold the land. Trusting her colleague and the business acumen Ha presented, Ms. L. readily lent Ha 1.28 billion VND. Initially, Ms. L. saw that Ha paid the interest on time, but after waiting for two or three months without seeing Ha, she inquired with colleagues and discovered she had been scammed.
Furthermore, taking advantage of their close friendship, when Ha sweetly asked to borrow money to buy a house and promised to repay both principal and interest within 10 days, Mr. Nguyen Van T. hastily mortgaged his house to the bank to borrow 1 billion VND and gave it to Ha. Only when Ha was arrested did Mr. T. realize he had fallen into Ha's trap.
Ha even went so far as to "raise capital" from her child's teacher. With her extravagant lifestyle and willingness to spend money on "encouragement" gifts for Ms. T., Ha gained Ms. T.'s trust and made her treat Ha like a younger sister.
Therefore, when Ha asked for a quick loan and promised to repay it in a short time, Ms. T borrowed money to lend to Ha. Ha even confided that, because she was trying to balance her work and business to increase her income, she didn't have time to care for and raise her child, so she asked if her child could live in the teacher's house for convenience in studying and living. It is known that the amount of money Ha defrauded from Ms. T totaled over 1 billion VND, including money from her parents and her younger brother who was preparing for his wedding, which he also lent to Ha.
Not onlyCheatBesides relatives and neighbors, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha even deceived her closest friend, someone she had been close to throughout her childhood. Knowing that Ms. VL (Le Mao Ward, Vinh City) was preparing to build a house, on February 28, 2011, she sought her out. Using the pretext of needing money to refinance a bank loan, Ms. VL, despite not having a large sum of money, still managed to borrow 1 billion VND from relatives to lend to Ha. When the repayment deadline arrived, Ha used the same trick, borrowing an additional 230 million VND. Because of her trust in her friend, Ms. VL's plan to build a house remains far from complete, as she is still burdened with repaying the debt she lent to her close friend.
Having met Ha through social connections, Mr. Dau Song T. (residing in Truong Thi ward) also couldn't avoid being lent money by Ha. Knowing that Mr. T. had received 500 million VND as a dowry from his parents to build a house or start a business, and that he didn't have enough money to build a house, Mr. T. deposited the money in the bank to earn interest to support his children's education. While being relentlessly pursued by creditors, Ha approached Mr. T. seeking a loan at a high interest rate. Believing Ha to be a government official, Mr. T. withdrew all 500 million VND from his bank account and lent it to Ha. After receiving the money, Ha disappeared and could not be contacted.
It is known that from 2007 to 2011, Ha committed 14 fraud cases, appropriating nearly 24 billion VND. As of the day of her trial, Ha still owed the victims over 22 billion VND.
"Master swindler" pleads guilty in court.
In late August 2013, the People's Court of Nghe An province held the first-instance trial of Tran Thi Ngoc Ha. The courtroom attracted hundreds of people. Besides being victims of the case, they were also relatives, neighbors, and even teachers of the defendant's children. Among them were those with comfortable lives, but also many poor, low-income individuals and laborers. Believing Ha's sweet words and driven by greed for high returns, they readily handed over all their assets, money, land, and houses to her without suspicion. Furthermore, some who lacked money borrowed from relatives out of obligation to give to Ha.
On the second day of the trial, during the arguments, another victim appeared from outside the courtroom carrying a stack of promissory notes. Introducing himself as Pham A.D. (residing in Vinh City), he also claimed to have been defrauded of 4 billion VND by Ha but had not received a summons.
To ensure the rights of the victims and clarify the responsibilities of those involved in the aforementioned sum of money, due to the complexity of the case, the Judicial Council extended its deliberation until August 23, 2013.
At the trial, Ha confessed that her repeated fraudulent acts were due to her borrowing large sums of money, with daily interest sometimes reaching tens of millions of dong. When she could no longer repay, many creditors came to her office to demand payment. Cornered, she could only target anyone she could deceive to get money to pay off her debts. She sold a single land use right certificate to multiple people, causing many families to fall into debt...
Standing before the dock, Tran Thi Ngoc Ha did not prevaricate or make excuses, but confessed to all her actions. When she heard the prosecutor present his opinion and recommend a life sentence, she tried to reach for the railing and burst into tears.
After a lengthy deliberation, on the morning of August 23, 2013, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court sentenced defendant Tran Thi Ngoc Ha to life imprisonment for "fraudulent appropriation of property." Simultaneously, the court ordered her to compensate 14 victims with 23 billion 883 million VND. The trial concluded, but the anxiety and worry of dozens of victims have not yet ended. The amount of money they lent to Ha was substantial; some people could never earn that much even in a lifetime.
Ha's sentence and her large debts serve as a lesson for those who are naive, lack legal knowledge, and are driven by short-term profits, forgetting that money earned through intellect, sweat, and even tears is the only truly clean and sustainable money.