The 'money-swallowing' tactics of the labor export scam ring.

From the complaint letters…

Nearly four years ago, Mrs. NTT (from Dien Chau) transferred nearly 200 million VND to Tran Thi Thu so that her eldest daughter could go to South Korea. However, even though her daughter has now settled down and started a family, she still hasn't been able to go to Korea. The family has met with Thu many times to demand their money back, but the amount they received back was negligible.

Ms. NTT shared: "At that time, the family also hoped that our granddaughter could go to work there to earn money to pay off debts and raise some capital to start a business. Believing Thu's words, we sold part of our rice field to help her. But to this day, there is no work, and we have only received back a little over 30 million dong."

The case of Ms. NTT's family is just one of 64 families who fell into the trap of the "super swindler" director.

Around mid-2019, numerous complaints from across the province were sent to the Criminal Investigation Department of the Nghe An Provincial Police. All complaints shared the same content: suspected fraud by a company specializing in labor export in the area.

Based on the basic information in the complaints, several investigators were dispatched to gather evidence. Initial investigations revealed that the company receiving money to facilitate overseas employment for the victims' families was Future International Education System Co., Ltd., located at 113 Dang Thai Mai Street (Vinh City, Nghe An Province). This company advertised that it could arrange study abroad or overseas employment in countries such as Australia, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore. The head and director of the company is Ms. Tran Thi Thu (born in 1983), residing in Nghi Kim Commune, Vinh City, Nghe An Province.

However, at the time of the investigation, the company's headquarters were "locked up," and no one could contact the person on duty. Furthermore, investigators stated that the information printed on the advertising sign did not match the content of the company's operating license. Determining this to be a large-scale fraud, investigators identified potential suspects and detained the company director for questioning.

On May 20, 2020, Tran Thi Thu was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Agency of the Nghe An Provincial Police, but was released on bail pending investigation due to her pregnancy. At the investigative agency, Tran Thi Thu confessed to all her fraudulent acts of appropriating property.

Unfulfilled dreams

In October 2018, Tran Thi Thu established Future Nghe An International Education System Co., Ltd., with Thu as its director. Although the company was not authorized to send workers abroad under contract, Thu still posted job advertisements and training programs for workers seeking employment in South Korea, Canada, Japan, Australia, and other countries.

To gain the trust of those seeking work or travel abroad, Thu used Facebook, Zalo, and various advertising platforms to post job openings for workers at Samsung companies in South Korea and Canada, as well as travel procedures to several European countries, promising "payment upon job acceptance."

Based on the information Thu posted, many workers in Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces trusted her and came to the company's headquarters to seek advice and register for overseas employment. Thu guaranteed that all those who came to the company could fly within six months of submitting their applications.

To increase the confidence of those wishing to go abroad, Tran Thi Thu rented a location and hired teachers to organize intensive Korean and English language classes to prepare them for overseas employment... In addition to fulfilling all the necessary paperwork for going abroad, workers had to pay for language courses, orientation classes, and other procedural costs.

All the workers stated that Tran Thi Thu required them to pay all initial fees in full, demanding that they convert their money to USD and not allowing them to pay in Vietnamese Dong.

However, after all the workers had paid and several intensive training sessions had been completed, at the end of May 2019, Future International Education System Co., Ltd. abruptly stopped organizing the classes. Many were extremely surprised when not only the classes but also the company closed down without explanation. Suspecting something was wrong, the families of the workers tried to contact the company director, but he was evasive.

Hoping to raise capital to open a phone store, Ms. PTPT (Nghi Loc) chose to go abroad for work. Promised to be able to go abroad six months after submitting her application, Ms. PTPT's family managed to gather 120 million VND to pay Thu for the initial procedures. However, her dream of owning her own store has vanished, leaving her family with a significant debt.

According to some workers, around the beginning of 2018, Tran Thi Thu worked at the representative office of a company specializing in labor export based in Hanoi. She was assigned as an office employee at the Vinh City branch. Tran Thi Thu's only duties were to advise and collect documents from workers wishing to work abroad, then forward them to the main company.

However, after a while, Thu resigned, claiming she wanted to start her own company. Driven by greed, Thu created a job scam that left many workers completely unsuspecting. Only when the company closed down did many realize they had been deceived.

Through investigation, the Criminal Investigation Agency of Nghe An province concluded that, within just two years, 64 workers from Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Quang Ninh provinces fell victim to the scheme of the "superficial" director Tran Thi Thu, with the amount of money embezzled reaching nearly 3 billion VND.

Director faces trial.

Late March 2021,The People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial to hear the case against defendant Tran Thi Thu (born in 1983), residing in Nghi Kim commune, Vinh City, Nghe An province, for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

At the trial, Tran Thi Thu admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. The defendant Thu stated that, recognizing the needs of many workers, she established a company and used false information to deceive victims into believing she could arrange overseas employment. She then embezzled money from the victims, using it both for company operations and personal expenses.

However, when asked about compensation for the victims, Tran Thi Thu replied that she was currently unable to pay and could not provide compensation. Thu's answer before the court angered many workers. One person stated: "Trusting Thu's words, we had to borrow money to pay, some families with 3-4 people registered to go, losing hundreds of millions of dong. Unable to go, we are burdened with debt, causing family discord, and couples have separated due to the pressure of debt. We request that the court impose a very strict sentence on Tran Thi Thu and force her to return the money to us."

At the trial, many workers shared that they decided to quit their jobs at the company they had worked for for many years because Thu promised they would definitely get the visas. However, after a long wait, they still did not receive their overseas employment contracts. Having to borrow money to pay Thu and having no income after leaving the company, their family lives were affected. Many families experienced marital conflicts over money.

The panel of judges concluded that the People's Procuracy of Nghe An province prosecuted Tran Thi Thu for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property"This is the right person, the right crime, and in accordance with the law. Thu's actions caused harm to workers, affected local security and order, and involved a large sum of money embezzled."

At the time of the trial, Tran Thi Thu was raising a young child under 36 months old and had compensated several workers with over 100 million VND, thus she was entitled to mitigating circumstances as stipulated. Considering all aspects of the case, the court sentenced Tran Thi Thu to 18 years in prison, with the term calculated from the date of commencement of the sentence. The court also ordered the defendant Thu to repay the remaining over 2.8 billion VND to the victims.

At the trial, the panel of judges also advised the victims in particular, as well as workers intending to study and work abroad, to thoroughly research information related to labor export service companies, and to check their operating licenses and company information on state-regulated websites.