Woman in Nghe An 'uses trick' to scam real estate dealer.
Having suffered business losses and accumulated debts, Ha Thi Tam conceived the idea of committing fraud. Using the tactic of inviting people to pool their capital for real estate investment, Tam swindled a man in Hanoi out of 1 billion VND.
On September 27th, the Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a trial to hear the case against defendant Ha Thi Tam (born in 1980), residing in Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". The victim in the case is Mr. Nguyen Van Th. (born in 1986, residing in Cau Giay district, Hanoi).
According to the indictment, on September 17, 2022, Tam and another person jointly purchased a plot of land in Nghi Thu ward for over 4.7 billion VND, with each party contributing half. Because Tam lacked the funds, he borrowed the entire amount from Ms. Phung Thi Thai.
Later, Tam was tasked with preparing the paperwork and advertising the land for sale. However, due to the loan repayment deadline approaching and the declining real estate market, she couldn't sell the land and had to transfer ownership to Ms. Thai.
After the transfer contract was finalized and notarized, but the buyer's name hadn't been recorded (often referred to as a pending contract), Ms. Thai asked Tam to find someone to sell it on her behalf to recover her capital. Therefore, Tam posted an advertisement to sell the land plot.
Because he had previously known Mr. Nguyen Van Th., in early November 2022, Tam discussed with him the possibility of investing in land, but Mr. Th. disagreed. Tam knew that the land had already been sold to settle debts, but he continued to message Mr. Th., inviting him to contribute money for investment.
In early December 2022, Mr. Th. came from Hanoi to view the land, but after hearing Tam's price of 5.5 billion VND, he did not agree to invest.
On the morning of January 3, 2023, after failing to convince Mr. Th. to buy land, Tam changed his approach, asking to borrow 500 million VND, promising to repay it in full after 7 days. Trusting him, Mr. Th. transferred 500 million VND to Tam.
The next day, Tam texted Mr. Th. saying, "There's a buyer who wants to buy this plot of land at a higher price. Let's buy it for a quick profit of about 200 to 300 million dong." Then, Tam sent pictures via Zalo to Mr. Th. with the message, "The landowner wants you to pay the remaining amount."
To gain the victim's trust, Tam created a deposit contract for the purchase of land and requested Mr. Th. to contribute 1 billion VND. Because he trusted Tam and had previously sent him 500 million VND, Mr. Th. sent nearly 500 million VND more to invest in the land plot. Tam used all of this money to pay off his debts.
Later, acting on behalf of Ms. Thai, Tam sold the land to someone else and was issued a land title certificate by the authorities.
Regarding Mr. Th., after transferring the money to Tam for the land purchase, he repeatedly requested legal documents regarding the jointly purchased plot of land, but Tam was unable to provide them.
By early August 2023, Mr. Th. verified the information and realized he had been scammed, so he demanded a refund, but Tam was unable to pay. Therefore, he filed a complaint against Tam with the police.
At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime. The defendant stated that due to debt pressure, he had defrauded Mr. Th. The money obtained through the fraud had been used to pay off his debts.
Considering the defendant's actions constituted a violation of the law, the court sentenced Ha Thi Tam to 7 years in prison for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property.
