Sentenced to a scammer who defrauded people with promises of easy work and high pay.
Using the ploy of "easy work, high pay," Ha colluded with Thao to trick and sell many victims to companies abroad. There, the laborers were forced to perform fraudulent work targeting Vietnamese people.
On September 5th, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened the first-instance trial of defendants Le Van Ha (born in 1999), residing in Nhan Hoa commune (Nghe An province), and Bui Thi Thao (born in 1994, from Nghe An), residing in Lai Thieu ward, Ho Chi Minh City, on the charge of "Human trafficking"Because Thao is raising a young child, she requested to be tried in absentia."
According to the case file, in 2022, Thao went to Dubai to open a barbershop and met a Chinese man named A Phan (whose background is unknown). A Phan asked Thao to find people to bring to Thailand to work with a salary of 800 USD/month.
In late March 2023, Thao called Le Van Ha and asked if he knew anyone who wanted to go to Thailand for work with an attractive salary. Ha agreed and said he wanted to go first to see what the job was like before finding someone to take him there.
Later, Thao arranged for Ha to fly to Thailand, and then took her to Myanmar. Once in Myanmar, Ha realized she was involved in online scams, but because she had no job at home, she voluntarily stayed. Ha also called Thao to inform her that the work abroad was a scam.
Nevertheless, Ha and Thao still colluded to find people to sell to their Chinese boss. From April 2023 to May 2023, the two tricked five people into going to Myanmar and handing them over to a Chinese individual.
Upon arriving in the US, the workers learned they were being scammed by Vietnamese people using the tactic of soliciting investments in a website promising "fake football scores." They were forced to work 12 to 17 hours a day, and if they didn't meet quotas, they had to work overtime and were fined. Their work was constantly monitored and supervised; failure to work resulted in physical abuse.
After transporting five people to Myanmar, Thao received 25 million VND as payment from A Phan. Thao gave 20 million VND of this amount to Ha. In addition, Ha also single-handedly transported two more victims abroad, profiting 8 million VND.
As for the victims, after being trafficked, some escaped back to Vietnam, some were rescued by the Blue Dragon Organization, but for others, their families had to send money to ransom them.
At the trial, the defendant Ha admitted to the crime. Ha testified that initially, due to difficult circumstances, she agreed to go abroad. Later, even though she knew that going to Myanmar meant engaging in fraudulent activities, she was driven by greed and sought out people to sell to a Chinese boss. The defendant expressed remorse and asked the court to consider mitigating circumstances and reduce her sentence.
The court determined that the defendants' actions violated the law and were dangerous to society, therefore, Le Van Ha was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and Bui Thi Thao received a 5-year prison sentence.
