Late regret of former bank employee who scammed people by playing virtual currency
Tran Thi My Linh used to have a stable job, but since she got into investing in virtual currency and losing money in the stock market, she borrowed money from many people. When she was unable to pay back her debt, Linh used tricks to defraud a company of money.
Female bank employee's scam
Tran Thi My Linh (born 1992), residing in Truong Thi ward, Vinh city, was an employee of a commercial bank from 2017 to August 2022. It was a dream job for many people with a decent income. However, Linh wanted to earn more money.
The female bank employee started investing in virtual money and stocks. However, because she played more and more, she lost more and more, so Linh borrowed money from many people and was unable to repay her debts. Therefore, Linh was sued by many creditors with a total of more than 6 billion VND to be executed.
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During the execution of the judgment, because Linh could not execute any amount of money, on November 2, 2022, the Civil Judgment Enforcement Office (CJE) of Vinh city issued a decision to enforce and seize the property, which is the right to use the land plot (area of more than 65m2).2) and the attached property is a 2-storey house.
On the same day, the Vinh City Land Registration Office issued a notice to the Land Registration Office requesting that the transfer, mortgage, pledge, transfer, etc. of this property not be processed. At the same time, this unit summoned Tran Thi My Linh to receive the decision on the enforcement and seizure of the property. However, this person gave reasons for not coming.
On November 9, 2022, the Vinh City THADS Department made a record of the handover of the decision to enforce the property and requested Linh to provide the "red book" as prescribed, but Linh did not comply. The reason was that in early October 2022, Linh mortgaged the "red book" to HT88 Company Limited to borrow 450 million VND.
Even though the authorities had decided to enforce the property and the house and land had been seized, and the "red book" had been mortgaged, Linh still went online to find a place to borrow money and found out that THK Investment Finance Joint Stock Company offered loans, so she contacted them.
On November 21, 2022, when meeting Mr. Nguyen Ba D. (company director), Linh asked to borrow 600 million VND. When asked by the company for the reason, Linh said: "Because I built a motel in Da Nang City and built on the wrong land, I need money to rebuild it."
At the same time, Linh asked to mortgage the 2-storey house currently mortgaged at HT88 company to ensure debt repayment obligations. Mr. D. agreed, so he and Linh went to HT88 company to withdraw the "red book" that Linh was mortgaging, then mortgaged it to Mr. D. to borrow money.
After Mr. D. transferred the money as per the initial contract, Linh continued to contact him to borrow more money. The total amount that Tran Thi My Linh borrowed from this company was nearly 880 million VND.
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Seeing that Linh did not pay the debt on time, Mr. D. called many times to ask her to pay the debt or to transfer the "red book" to the company, but Linh deliberately avoided it.
Realizing that there were many suspicious points, Mr. D. investigated and was shocked to learn that he had been scammed. The property that Linh had mortgaged had been seized by the Vinh City Department of Real Estate and auctioned off to someone else. Therefore, the director of this company filed a complaint against Tran Thi My Linh for her fraudulent behavior to the police.
The investigation agency determined that the total amount of money that Linh defrauded from the company was nearly 880 million VND. After that, Linh paid back 170 million VND, so the amount the defendant still owes the victim is more than 700 million VND.
Late regret
The first instance trial of defendant Tran Thi My Linh for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property took place in early November 2024. At that trial, none of the defendant's relatives attended.
During the process of answering the questions of the Trial Council, Linh shed tears many times. The defendant explained that due to losses in trading stocks and virtual currencies, he had borrowed from many people, leading to his inability to pay. In order to have money to recoup the losses, the defendant made up many reasons to borrow money.
Attending the court, the company representative requested the defendant to return the money to them. The defendant's fraudulent behavior had greatly affected the company's operations.
At the trial, the female defendant expressed remorse for her mistakes. Her deception caused damage to the company and was also the reason why she was in trouble with the law. She presented her difficult circumstances, currently raising two young children alone, asking the court to consider reducing her sentence.
The jury determined that the defendant’s actions were in violation of the law and should be severely punished. However, the defendant’s honest confession, repentance, and partial reparation of the victim’s damages; and the defendant’s father being awarded the First Class Resistance Medal and the Medal for the Cause of Transport by the State were mitigating circumstances.
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Considering the case comprehensively, the Trial Panel sentenced defendant Tran Thi My Linh to 13 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Hearing the verdict, Tran Thi My Linh sat down on a chair and covered her face, crying. But those tears were too late. The defendant had to pay the price for her greed and disregard for the law…