Arrested 5 businessmen for fraudulently selling and renting out non-existent apartments
The group of subjects committed fraud by leasing non-existent apartments for long term or signing contracts for one apartment with two customers.
Binh Thanh District Police, Ho Chi Minh City has just prosecuted and temporarily detained a group of suspects including: Mai Thai An (41 years old), Nguyen Thi Ngoc Giau (38 years old, An's wife), Tang Khanh Tan (39 years old), Bui Van Vinh (40 years old) and Tran Cat Tuong (24 years old) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property”.
According to the investigation, An and Giau are the owners of the land plot at 530A Xo Viet Nghe Tinh, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. In 2020, the couple was granted a permit by the People's Committee of Binh Thanh District to build a house with 1 basement, 1 mezzanine, and 5 floors.
But An and Giau asked Bui Van Vinh and some others to make another design drawing with 1 basement, 1 mezzanine, 6 floors and 57 rooms - 12 more than the actual number.
An and Giau had mortgaged the land documents to the bank. Therefore, the subjects agreed to let Phu Quy Company, with Vinh as director, sign the apartment lease contract as a witness. An also hired Phu Quy Company and Bao Nam Company of Tang Khanh Tan as brokers to find customers.
Brokers advertise and sell apartments, but when customers sign a deposit contract, they find out that the apartment is for a long-term lease (50 years).
Through two brokerage companies, An and his wife signed 57 long-term apartment rental contracts, earning 42 billion VND. For the 6th floor not listed in the license - which were not real apartments - An signed 9 contracts and earned 8.3 billion VND. Of which, Vinh received 1.2 billion VND, Tan received 150 million VND.
In 2023, when Vinh's Phu Quy Company no longer participated, An asked Tran Cat Tuong to stand in as the Director of Lava Smile Trading and Service LLC (licensed to operate in the medical field) to sign and stamp the legal entity as a witness on the contracts.
In September 2023, this company's tax code was closed by the Binh Thanh District Tax Department because it was suspected of being a ghost enterprise, but Tuong still used the legal entity to sign and witness 4 contracts.
In addition, An also signed a contract to rent the same apartment to 2 customers to appropriate money without handing over. There were 14 people who were scammed when signing a contract to rent 7 apartments like that.