The scam of the self-proclaimed garage director

Nghe An Police Department is still detaining Trinh Xuan Hai and Tang Thi Ly to continue investigating the case of renting cars, then mortgaging and forging documents to sell 12 cars to appropriate more than 2.5 billion VND.

Previously, through the work of grasping the situation, from March to May 2018, the Criminal Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police discovered a criminal gang that had fraudulently appropriated cars from a number of businesses and people in Nghe An province, then sold them and pawned them to get money to spend.

Subject Trinh Xuan Hai. Photo: Duc Vu

Realizing that the subjects' actions caused damage to many valuable properties of the people, the Criminal Police Department (PC45) established a special project with code number 518L to fight and clarify.

After collecting sufficient documents and evidence, on June 1, 2018, Department PC45 decided to crack the case and arrest Tang Thi Ly (born in 1989, residing in Thien Tien hamlet, Hong Thanh commune, Yen Thanh) for appropriating a car from Hiep Suong Company (located in Vinh city), worth 250 million VND. From here, the task force has gradually clarified and arrested the subjects in this professional fraud ring.

The investigation team determined that the main suspect in this ring is Trinh Xuan Hai (born in 1992, residing in Thanh Phong commune, Thanh Chuong). The provincial police investigation agency has issued a decision to prosecute the case and prosecute Trinh Xuan Hai for the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

While the task force was verifying and searching for him, Trinh Xuan Hai had fled Nghe An province. Hai frequently changed his residence and used many phone numbers, making the task of capturing him very difficult. With the help of police from Binh Dinh and Thua Thien Hue, on June 29, 2018, the task force arrested Trinh Xuan Hai in Phuoc Vinh ward, Hue city.

The cars that Hai had fraudulently sold were recovered at the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency. Photo: Xuan Bac

At the police investigation agency, Trinh Xuan Hai confessed all his crimes. According to the investigation agency's documents, after graduating from university, Hai worked in many places but his income was unstable. In early March 2017, Trinh Xuan Hai applied for a job at Thinh Phat Auto Garage in Vinh City (Nghe An).

After more than a year of working, Hai established good relationships with self-driving car companies. Hai borrowed cars many times and returned them on time without doing any paperwork with the companies. After many times, Hai was used to building trust with customers, and this was the condition for Hai to develop his criminal intentions.

Among the many customers who regularly come to repair their cars at Thinh Phat Auto Garage are many businesses that sell self-driving cars, including Hiep Suong Company and HenrySon Company with offices in Vinh City (Nghe An). Trinh Xuan Hai has a good relationship with the leaders of the two companies above, so he has rented cars many times.

On May 7, 2018, Hai rented a Toyota Vios car, license plate 37A-172.96 from Hiep Suong Company for 3 days, at a price of 700,000 VND/day. After that, Hai pawned the car to Mr. Dinh Van Trinh, residing in Le Mao ward, Vinh city, to get 100,000,000 VND.

Then on May 24, 2018, Hai went to Hiep Suong Company to sign a contract to rent a Kia K3 car for 1 day for 800,000 VND. After that, Hai mortgaged this car to Mr. Tran Quang Bao, residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city for 280,000,000 VND.

A fake vehicle registration paper that Hai hired to make. Photo: Duc Vu

After the car rental period expired, Hiep Suong Company contacted Hai many times, but Hai tried to avoid them and turned off his phone. Using similar tricks, Trinh Xuan Hai successfully swindled Hiep Suong Company of 5 cars of various types, Henryson Company of 2 cars and 5 cars of other individuals in Vinh City.

Talking about the method and tricks of the criminal activities of the subject, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Sy Hoan - Department PC45, Nghe An Provincial Police said that in order to gain the trust of self-driving car companies, Hai introduced himself as the Director of Thinh Phat Auto Garage, invited them to eat and drink many times, when renting a car, Hai always paid the company in advance so at first they did not suspect anything.

For those he knew, Hai pawned his rented cars and took the money. For those he did not know, Hai forged the car papers and sold the self-driving cars. With this trick, Hai and his accomplices tricked many victims into pawning and selling 12 cars and then embezzling more than 2.5 billion VND.

After Project 518L was discovered, PC45 Department of Nghe An Police seized all 12 cars to return them to the victims. This is not a new modus operandi of criminals, it has happened in many localities across the country. However, self-driving car businesses and people are still easily deceived.

Through this project, owners of self-driving car businesses and pawnshops should not ignore legal regulations for immediate benefits, subjectively hand over cars and give money without clearly understanding the customer's background.