Penniless and deeply in debt after trusting a friend's advice to "speculate" on land.
Deciding to leave his family and hometown to go abroad with the hope of financial stability, a man from Nghe An lost everything after falling into a trap of fraudulent land deposit schemes and "speculation," leaving him deeply in debt...
The tactic of pooling money to "hoard land"
Arriving at the Nghe An Provincial People's Court quite early, Mr. Le Minh C. (40 years old), residing in Quynh Hau commune, Quynh Luu district, never imagined that his life would be plunged into debt because of trusting his fellow villager, Tran Van Nam (40 years old, residing in Quynh Hau commune). Not only did they live in the same village, but they were also friends. Because of his trust, Mr. C. lost all his savings accumulated over many years of working as a laborer abroad. Furthermore, he incurred additional debt because he borrowed money to give to Nam.
It all started in 2021, when Mr. C. was working in Singapore. At that time, the domestic real estate market was booming. Therefore, after reading Nam's posts on social media about selling land and inviting investors, Mr. C. inquired about it.
In reality, Tran Van Nam wasn't actually a land speculator; he had lost money investing online, leading to debt, which prompted him to hatch a scam. At the time, since Mr. C. was abroad, to gain his trust, Nam took Mr. C.'s wife to view several plots of land, but she didn't like any of them.
Later, Nam called Mr. C., inviting him to pool money to buy land for "speculative" purposes to make a profit. Believing him, the man working abroad agreed. Nam provided false information about non-existent plots of land, the selling price, and the amount of deposit required, sending images of "deposit receipts." Because he was abroad and trusted his friend from the same village, Mr. C. transferred money to Nam several times.
Specifically, on April 17, 2021, Tran Van Nam informed Mr. C. that he currently owned a plot of land in Quynh Hoa commune with an area of 200 square meters.2The land was priced at 1.2 billion VND, with a deposit of 300 million VND. Nam suggested that Mr. C. each contribute half of the deposit. Trusting him, Mr. C. had someone transfer 160 million VND as a deposit to Nam.
On April 22nd, Nam informed Mr. C. of the "good news" that the first plot of land had been sold, with each receiving a profit of 40 million VND. He then told Mr. C. to invest in the second plot for 1.7 billion VND, with a deposit of 500 million VND. After calculating the deposit and profit from the first plot, Nam requested that Mr. C. only contribute 20 million VND as a land deposit. After receiving the money, Nam wrote a "Deposit Receipt" himself, filled in all the necessary information, took a photo, and sent it to Mr. C.
Seeing everything going smoothly, on April 24th, Nam continued to deceive Mr. C. into buying a third plot of land for 2.3 billion VND, with a deposit of 1 billion VND. This time, Nam demanded that Mr. C. deposit 500 million VND before the new owner would secure the land. Trusting Nam, Mr. C. had someone transfer 50 million VND. A day later, Nam informed Mr. C. that the land had been sold, with a profit of 200 million VND, split equally between them. Believing Nam's scheme was effective, Mr. C. had another 120 million VND transferred to Nam's account.
In addition, Nam lied about his land title being mortgaged to secure a loan from a credit fund, and then asked Mr. C. to send him money to retrieve the title. Nam promised to mortgage the title at the bank to borrow a larger sum of money to jointly invest in land with Mr. C. Trusting Nam's words, Mr. C. transferred a total of 175 million VND to Nam on several occasions.
The investigating agency determined that from April 2021 to February 2022, Tran Van Nam defrauded and misappropriated more than 520 million VND from Mr. C.
Left penniless after believing a scammer's words.
While living and working abroad, Mr. C. was completely unaware that he had been scammed. He only realized he had fallen into a fraudster's trap upon returning to Vietnam. Specifically, in March 2022, after returning home, Mr. C. asked Nam to show him the plots of land he had purchased and put a deposit on. However, Nam consistently made excuses to avoid him. After investigating, Mr. C. realized he had been scammed and filed a complaint with the police.
For the above actions, Tran Van Nam was arrested and prosecuted for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property"At the trial, the defendant admitted to the crime as charged in the indictment. Nam confessed that due to losses from online investments and financial difficulties, he defrauded the victim. He had spent all the money obtained from the fraud. When questioned by the court about the methods used to commit the crime, the defendant stated that he had learned about them on social media and then applied them."
Attending the trial as the victim, Mr. C. sadly explained that, being friends and from the same hometown, he agreed when Nam invited him to invest. However, he never imagined that his trust would lead him into debt. "All the money I saved while working abroad is gone," Mr. C. said. Furthermore, for many years he has been struggling to repay debts he incurred from borrowing money to give to Nam for investment.
During the trial, the panel of judges questioned Nam about returning the stolen money to the victims, to which Nam stated that he currently has no assets. His house has been seized by the enforcement agency. The defendant stated that he is no longer able to repay the debt and promised to "earn money to repay it after being released from prison."
Following the defendant's response, the victim clearly expressed his frustration. He stated that his life was currently very difficult due to Nam's fraudulent actions. Therefore, the victim requested the court to try the defendant according to the law.
The court determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society. The defendant exploited the victim's trust to embezzle money. Driven by greed, the defendant acted recklessly in committing fraud, therefore a severe punishment is necessary. After considering all aspects of the case, the court sentenced Tran Van Nam to 12 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and ordered him to return the money to the victim.
The trial concluded with a 12-year prison sentence for the defendant; however, the judges reminded the public to be vigilant in managing their assets. Because many forms of fraud and investment schemes are currently being used by unscrupulous individuals, people need to be highly cautious to avoid falling into traps.
