Believing the 'difficult family situation', the woman was bitter when her neighbor cheated her of nearly 800 million VND.

Made up stories about 'difficult family circumstances' to borrow money and gold

The People's Court of Nghe An province has just opened a trial for defendant Pham Anh Nguyet (33 years old), from Tam Dong commune (Nghe An) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property". Because she is raising a young child, Nguyet was released on bail. During the two days of the trial, the female defendant came to court alone. Meanwhile, Mrs. Pham Thi Th. - the victim of Nguyet's drama, sadly came to court with a few relatives.

There was no blood relationship between Mrs. Th. and the defendant. They were just neighbors, who had known each other when Nguyet moved from the countryside to the city to rent a kiosk to sell fruits. Out of compassion and trust, the victim had lent the defendant money and gold many times. In the end, what the victim received in return was blatant deception. Nguyet's actions not only caused Mrs. Th. to lose her property but also turned the victim's spirit and life upside down.

Recalling the process of being scammed by Pham Anh Nguyet, Mrs. Th. shook her head many times, indignant. She met Nguyet when this woman rented a fruit stall on Dinh Le Street, Vinh City (old). From being customers, they gradually became familiar with each other. During the process of getting to know her, Nguyet saw that Mrs. Th. had assets and was gullible, so she came up with the idea of ​​scamming her.

Initially, Nguyet gave the reason that her parents were sick and had to be hospitalized, so she needed money urgently. Feeling compassion, Mrs. Th. did not hesitate to lend money to her neighbor to take care of family matters. Realizing that her neighbor was gullible, Nguyet gave other reasons to trick her into borrowing money and gold from Mrs. Th.

Nguyet tricked the victim that her parents in the countryside had given her a 22-hectare forest land plot in Thanh Chuong district (old) and were in the process of transferring the title to her, and that she needed money to complete land procedures. Nguyet said that someone wanted to buy that land plot and promised to return the money to Ms. T. and give her some money after selling the property. To make her "prey" trust her, Nguyet composed a fake text message impersonating a real estate agent who was in the process of completing land procedures and sent it to Ms. Th. Believing the content to be true, Ms. Th. lent Nguyet cash and gold many times.

The investigation agency determined that from February 25, 2024 to April 16, 2024, Nguyet provided a lot of false information to defraud and appropriate from Ms. Th. 100 million VND and 10 taels of gold (at the time of valuation, the gold was worth more than 691 million VND). The total value that Nguyet defrauded and appropriated was more than 791 million VND.

When trust and kindness are taken advantage of

At the recent trial, the defendant admitted to defrauding the victim of money and gold. The female defendant stated that because she saw that “the victim was easy to lend money and gold to, and was gullible, she repeatedly approached the victim by using the trick of borrowing money and gold.” In order to avoid detection, each time she borrowed money or gold, the defendant wrote a note stating the date, amount of money, and amount of gold borrowed.

When the victim urged him to pay, the defendant sometimes took out a small amount of money to give to the victim. The defendant said he used all the fraudulently obtained assets to pay off debts and for personal expenses.

Attending the court, the victim presented the key issue that made her repeatedly lend money and gold to the defendant because of trust. The defendant provided information showing that her parents were about to give her a large real estate, so the victim trusted her even more. The victim said that part of the money she was defrauded of was borrowed from others. Therefore, the defendant's actions affected her life and spirit.

The victim felt indignant and angry at the defendant’s fraudulent behavior. Ms. Th. requested that the defendant return all of her assets to her so that she could soon stabilize her life and pay off her debt.

During the debate at the trial, the panel of judges said that the defendant had disregarded the law when he repeatedly committed acts of fraud to borrow money and gold. The defendant himself was a person with full criminal capacity but because of greed, he committed fraud. Through the trial, the panel of judges also reminded people about managing their assets. Do not be gullible and lend assets to others without carefully researching and verifying the information they provide.

Having the last word before the court deliberated, the defendant expressed remorse for her crime and asked the court to consider reducing her sentence. The female defendant presented her difficult family circumstances, her fourth child was just over 2 months old, and her children were still young and in school age. The defendant promised to try to return the property to the victim. Before the trial took place, the defendant had compensated the victim more than 260 million VND.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were illegal and violated the property rights of others protected by law. The defendant's criminal actions had a major impact on public order and the lives of the people, so a severe sentence was needed to deter and educate the defendant. However, it was also necessary to consider some mitigating circumstances for the defendant, such as his honest confession, remorse, and partial compensation for the damage.

Considering the case as a whole, the panel sentenced defendant Pham Anh Nguyet to 11 years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property. In civil matters, the court ordered the defendant to return the money to the victim (minus the amount of compensation).

The trial ended, the defendant – who was released on bail, quietly left by another route to avoid meeting his former friend. They used to be close friends, used to help each other, but after all, that friendship was broken along with the stolen trust. The case ended with a harsh sentence, but the lesson of trust and how to protect property still remains valuable as a sobering reminder for all of us.