From a victim of a scam via a mobile app, a credit union accountant became a fraudster herself.
(Baonghean.vn) - Needing money to cover the costs of her online sales operation, Vo Thi Tuyet (Yen Thanh) took advantage of her position as an accountant at a credit fund to borrow money to carry out "loan sharking," and then used that money to pay off her personal debts.
On March 26, the People's Court of Nghe An province held a first-instance trial to hear the case of Vo Thi Tuyet (born in 1990), residing in Bao Thanh commune (Yen Thanh district, Nghe An province), on the charge of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
Reportedly, in early August 2023, Vo Thi Tuyet began participating in online sales through an application called Fastshop installed on her phone. Through the application, Tuyet followed instructions and paid an initial fee to join the group. After transferring money multiple times, completing tasks, and receiving immediate interest payments, Tuyet gained trust and continued participating. However, to recover her initial investment, victims like Tuyet were asked to transfer even larger sums of money. By the time the victims discovered they had been scammed, all the money had vanished.
Specifically, by the time she was arrested by authorities, Tuyet had transferred over 2 billion VND into the Fastshop app. At that time, Vo Thi Tuyet was the accountant of the Bao Thanh Commune People's Credit Fund (Yen Thanh District). To compensate for the lost money, Tuyet used the tactic of borrowing money to "roll over" loan agreements.
According to the indictment, knowing that Ms. NTH (born in 1982), residing in the same commune, had a large sum of money she wanted to deposit at the Credit Fund, Vo Thi Tuyet took advantage of her position and also exploited her close relationship with Ms. H. to deceive her and obtain a loan. Vo Thi Tuyet promised Ms. H. that she would repay the full amount, both principal and interest, after "reversing" the loan agreements with 4 other customers and 7 different loans.
However, in reality, Tuyet only swapped the loan agreements seven times, using two savings passbooks belonging to Ms. NTB (Tuyet's mother) as collateral. These two agreements were not yet due for repayment, and Ms. B. had no need for the swaps, but Tuyet still carried out the scheme. The money obtained from these "loan swaps" was deposited into a shopping app and used for personal expenses. Between August 28th and August 30th alone, Ms. H. transferred money to Tuyet five times, totaling over 3.355 billion VND that Tuyet embezzled.
Furthermore, on August 31st, due to a lack of investment capital for online sales, Tuyet borrowed another 300 million VND from Ms. H. under her personal name. However, by October 2023, Ms. H. had not repaid the loans as promised, so she reported Tuyet to the authorities.
At the trial, Vo Thi Tuyet admitted to her crimes. The defendant confessed that she committed the illegal acts to recoup her losses after losing money while participating in online trading apps.
The prosecutor, exercising the right to prosecute in court, maintained the same stance as in the indictment and proposed a sentence of 16-17 years imprisonment for the defendant Vo Thi Tuyet for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
After a comprehensive review of the case, the panel of judges concluded that the defendant's actions were extremely dangerous, causing severe harm to the victim's family and disrupting social order and security. Considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges decided to sentence the defendant Vo Thi Tuyet to 15 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and ordered her to compensate the victim with the amount stipulated by law.
