Rent a self-driving car to... sell to pay off debt

On April 6, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Ton Nu Phuong Anh (born 1983), residing in Hong Son ward (Vinh city) for two crimes of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and "Using fake seals or documents of agencies and organizations".

Due to debt and no stable job, Phuong Anh came up with the idea of ​​renting two self-driving cars, then pawning them and reselling them to get money to spend.

Defendant Ton Nu Phuong Anh. Photo: Tran Vu

Specifically, in March 2020, Phuong Anh went to a self-drive car rental service company to sign a contract to rent two Mazda3 cars and a Nissan Navara car.

About a month later, Phuong Anh brought a car to meet Mr. Tran Quoc L. to discuss borrowing 170 million VND to solve business problems. Phuong Anh said this was her brother's car and showed Mr. L. the car's registration, promising to pay back the loan within 15 days. Mr. L. agreed. However, after the appointment, Phuong Anh still did not pay the debt as promised.

In May 2020, Phuong Anh continued to bring a Mazda3 car to Mr. L's house and said that she needed 200 million VND for business and wanted to sell this car. To make Mr. L believe her, Phuong Anh presented a power of attorney to give, sell, donate, and mortgage the car between the car owner, Mr. Ho Viet Hung, and Ton Nu Phuong Anh, certified by the People's Committee of Hung Nguyen town (Hung Nguyen). In fact, this was a fake power of attorney. Before that, Phuong Anh found a power of attorney without any content, so she herself wrote the authorization content and information according to the form.

After reviewing the documents, Mr. L. agreed to buy the car. About 7 days later, this man learned that “Phuong Anh was in debt and on the run” so he asked a friend to post information about selling the car. Afterwards, a man in Dien Chau district bought it for nearly 500 million VND.

Not long after, the new owner discovered that the car had “problems” with its origin, so he contacted and met the real owner of the car. After the meeting, the car was returned to its real owner, the self-drive car rental company.

The incident was discovered, Phuong Anh met Mr. L., admitted that she had lied because she was in need and promised to return the money. But after a long time of waiting without any results, Mr. L. wrote a complaint to the police against Ton Nu Phuong Anh. The conclusion of the property valuation of the two cars that Anh rented and then mortgaged and sold was more than 1 billion VND.

In court, the defendant admitted his crime. He said he took the risk due to debt and poverty.

The People's Court sentenced Ton Nu Phuong Anh to 12 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 6 months in prison for "Using fake seals or documents of agencies and organizations".