Greedy woman and 4 crimes in 1 trial

Sophisticated tricks

Tran Thi Thuan (35 years old), from Quynh Hong commune, Quynh Luu district, but this woman often goes to Vinh city to trade and do business. From those trips, Thuan got to know many people. Through social relationships, this young woman took advantage of them to commit illegal acts.

First, Tran Thi Thuan committed fraud by renting a car. Accordingly, on January 19, 2022, Thuan went to a company located in Vinh City to discuss renting a self-driving car (the car's value is nearly 640 million VND) to transport fruits for sale. Thuan and the car rental company signed a car rental contract for a period of 1 month at a price of 1.2 million VND/day. However, after renting the car, Thuan went online to hire someone to forge a car sales contract and a car registration certificate.

After obtaining the fake documents, Thuan drove a car and took the fake documents to meet a man in Quynh Luu district to pawn them for 470 million VND. Thuan spent nearly half a billion VND on personal expenses. Thuan's fraudulent behavior was exposed in May 2022.

After being detained by the authorities for a period of time, Thuan was released on bail because he was raising a young child. At the same time, the authorities determined that Thuan was involved in a land fraud case.

According to records from the authorities, around February 2022, due to needing money to spend, Thuan came up with the idea of ​​defrauding a woman in Nghi An commune, Vinh city named Nguyen Thi V. by pooling capital to buy land. Thuan lied to Ms. V. that there was a plot of land in Quy Hop district, the owner was selling it for 300 million VND, requiring a "deposit" of 120 million VND in advance. Because they were acquaintances and had previously cooperated in real estate business, Ms. V. trusted Thuan. This woman gave 120 million VND to Thuan without any written documents between the two parties.

However, after paying the money, Ms. V. waited but did not see Thuan follow the agreement. Therefore, she asked Thuan to take her to see the land. At this time, Thuan took Ms. V. to a mountainous district to see an empty plot of land whose owner was unknown, but he affirmed that it was the plot of land that had been deposited. Some time later, when she realized that she had been scammed, Ms. V. wrote a complaint to the police.

While Nghe An Provincial Police were investigating the above two acts, Tran Thi Thuan continued to commit theft. Specifically, on November 6, 2022, Thuan went to a coffee shop in Quynh Giang Commune, Quynh Luu District to drink water with her friends. Seeing the phone of the shop owner's daughter on the table, Thuan quickly "stole" it and put it in his pocket. After leaving the shop, Thuan quickly removed the SIM card and threw it away. When she realized that her phone theft was exposed, the "monster" went to the police to surrender.

The investigation agency determined that in nearly 1 year, from January to November 2022, Tran Thi Thuan committed 3 crimes, defrauding and appropriating money from many people.

Late Repentance

With the above acts, Tran Thi Thuan was prosecuted and brought to trial for 4 crimes including: Abuse of trust to appropriate property, Using fake documents of agencies and organizations, Fraudulent appropriation of property and Theft of property.

In front of the witness stand, Thuan confessed to all his crimes. When questioned about his motive for committing the crime, the defendant said that he was in debt and needed money for personal expenses. The female defendant admitted that because of debt, she had repeatedly committed fraud and appropriated other people's money and property. When the jury asked why she stole things and used deceitful means to take other people's money and property because of personal debts, the defendant remained silent. Regarding the money she obtained from the fraud, the defendant spent it all for personal expenses.

Attending the trial as a victim, Ms. V. recounted Thuan's tricks to defraud her. According to this victim, Thuan initially created trust in her by inviting her to invest in land together. Because the real estate market was hot at that time, she borrowed money to invest with Thuan and some other people. After the first successful investment, with a profit of several tens of millions of dong, Thuan invited her to invest in another plot of land. Because of her trust, Ms. V. borrowed more money to invest in land, but she was defrauded by Thuan when she bought a "ghost" plot of land. This victim stated that since being defrauded, her family life has been affected, and the couple has been in conflict. Therefore, at the trial, the victim requested that the defendant be tried according to the law.

In his final words before the court deliberated, the defendant choked up and apologized to the victims, promised to pay back the money soon, and asked the court to consider reducing his sentence so that he could return home to take care of his children soon.

On the day of the trial, none of the defendant’s relatives attended. While the court deliberated, Thuan bowed his head to the table and burst into tears, the belated tears of regret of a woman who, out of greed, had disregarded everything to appropriate other people’s property and money.

The Trial Panel determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society, infringed upon the legal property rights of others, and negatively affected public order and social security. The defendant was aware that his actions were wrong and illegal, but he still committed them out of greed. Therefore, a severe penalty and a term of imprisonment are needed to effectively punish, deter, and educate the defendant in the fight against crime and prevent crime for the whole society.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the jury sentenced the defendant Tran Thi Thuan to 13 years in prison for the crime of Abuse of trust to appropriate property, 3 years in prison for the crime of Using fake documents of an organization, 4 years in prison for the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property and 6 months in prison for the crime of Theft of property. The total sentence for this defendant is 20 years and 6 months in prison. Regarding the civil part, the court ordered the defendant to return the amount of money she had appropriated from the victims (minus the amount of compensation).

Receiving 4 sentences at the same time is a suitable lesson for a woman who, because of greed, disregarded everything, violated ethics, lifestyle and the law. This will also be a warning lesson for many others, not to disregard and receive bitter consequences.