Trusting strangers, two sisters lost over 1.7 billion VND.
Although she didn't know who owned the Facebook account "Luu Vuong Kore," Ms. Thao still asked her sister to send her over 1.7 billion VND through the bank account number provided by this person, unaware that she had fallen victim to a scam.
On March 24, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced defendant Pham Thanh Chung (31 years old, from Hung Yen province) to 8 years in prison and Nguyen Huu Tuan (38 years old, from Hanoi) to 10 years in prison, both for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
According to the allegations, due to financial needs, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Thao (living in Singapore) borrowed over 1.7 billion VND from her younger sister, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Chi. However, Ms. Thao did not know how to receive money sent from Vietnam, so she asked Ms. Thuy (also living in Singapore) to find a money transfer service for her.
Later, Ms. Thuy joined the "Vietnamese People in Singapore" group to find a money transfer service from Vietnam to Singapore. At this time, a Facebook account named "Luu Vuong Kore" messaged her, offering to transfer money. This person then provided Ms. Thuy with an account number for people in Vietnam to transfer money to and a recipient address in Singapore.
After agreeing on the method of money transfer, Ms. Thuy informed Ms. Thao. However, after Ms. Chi sent over 1.7 billion VND, Ms. Thao went to the receiving address in Singapore only to find out that no one from Vietnam had sent the money. Panicked, Ms. Thao informed Ms. Thuy. Ms. Thuy quickly messaged the Facebook account named "Luu Vuong Kore," but it had been blocked.
After receiving a report from Ms. Thao about being scammed, Ms. Chi went to the police station to file a report.
During the investigation, on January 6, 2023, the police arrested Pham Thanh Chung. Knowing he could not escape, Nguyen Huu Tuan also surrendered.
According to Chung and Tuan's statements, after researching on Vietnamese websites in Singapore, Chung learned that many people needed to transfer money from Vietnam to Singapore, so he came up with the idea of stealing their money.
Later, Chung invited Tuan to cooperate. Following Chung's instructions, Tuan was responsible for purchasing bank accounts to receive money transferred by the victims. Meanwhile, Chung bought a Facebook account under the name "Luu Vuong Kore" to join the "Vietnamese People in Singapore" group.
Of the more than 1.7 billion VND he embezzled from the victim, Chung gave Tuan 220 million VND, and spent the remaining 1.5 billion VND himself.
