Borrowing money to go abroad unexpectedly leads to falling into a scam.

Exposing the illegal emigration ring.

On the day of the trial of defendant Thai Thi Ly (born in 1973, residing in Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City) and her accomplices for the crime of "Organizing the illegal emigration of others," a large number of people were present at the court from early morning. Many of them had traveled long distances to attend as victims.

They shared that their family lives had been in dire straits because they believed the promises of Lý and his accomplices about going abroad for a better life. However, after paying hundreds of millions of dong, their dream of going abroad has still not materialized. Even more heartbreaking is that many families are now burdened with debt because of this dream.

The mastermind in this case is Thai Thi Ly. Around mid-2021, Ly met a man named Hung who worked in labor export services. Hung introduced himself to Ly as someone capable of bringing Vietnamese people to Australia to work on seafarer visas, valid for 3 years, at a cost of 28,000 USD per person.

In early 2022, Hung continued to advise Ly on how to arrange for people to work in Canada by using Dubai as a tourist visa, then applying for a Canadian visa and staying illegally to work. Upon arrival in Canada, the workers would be placed in agricultural jobs with salaries ranging from 60 to 80 million VND per month, and the travel cost was 14,000 USD per person. Driven by profit, Ly agreed to find people interested in going abroad, advise them, and pay Hung the difference in fees.

Later, Ly recruited more subordinates to work with him. These included: Phong Thi Bich Thuy (born 1986, Can Tho), Dang Thi Tuyet (born 1971, Ha Tinh), Ta Van Trung (born 1965), and Nguyen Thanh Huyen (born 1980, Vinh City).

Ly discussed and agreed with Ta Van Trung on procedures for people to go to Canada at a cost of 16,000 USD per person. Trung then discussed and agreed with Tran Thi Thinh (who has absconded and is currently wanted) and Nguyen Thanh Huyen on how to find people to go abroad and increased the cost to 18,000 USD per person. Thinh then discussed with Dang Thi Tuyet, raising the cost to 20,000 USD per person…

They all agreed on the method of going to Canada for work: traveling to Dubai for about 15-30 days as tourists. After that, they would continue the process of illegally entering Canada to work. At each stage, Trung, Thinh, Huyen, and Tuyet increased the cost by an additional $2,000 USD per person to pocket the difference.

Investigators determined that from January 2021 to September 2022, Thai Thi Ly received over 6.1 billion VND and organized three trips for 19 people to enter Dubai on tourist visas, with the purpose of further processing their visas to work illegally in Canada, Australia, France, Germany, and other countries, earning over 2.8 billion VND in illicit profits.

Meanwhile, Phong Thi Bich Thuy received over 1.2 billion VND, organizing illegal emigration for 13 people on two separate occasions; Ta Van Trung received 87,000 USD and nearly 500 million VND, organizing illegal emigration for 9 people on two separate occasions; Nguyen Thanh Huyen received 915 million VND, organizing illegal emigration for 4 people on two separate occasions. Dang Thi Tuyet alone received over 1 billion VND, organizing illegal emigration for 2 people.

The workers were promised that after arriving in Dubai, the procedures to travel to Canada would be completed. However, in reality, they were abandoned in Dubai, and none of them were able to proceed. Returning empty-handed and repeatedly failing to get their money back, the victims filed a complaint with the police.

The mastermind speaks out.

Standing before the witness stand, defendants Ta Van Trung, Nguyen Thanh Huyen, Dang Thi Tuyet, and Phong Thi Bich Thuy all bowed their heads and admitted to the crimes as charged in the indictment. These defendants testified that they were merely "intermediaries," receiving documents and money before handing them over to Thai Thi Ly.

However, the mastermind, Thai Thi Ly, claimed that she was merely a link in this network, a subordinate of a man named Hung. According to Ly's testimony, the man commonly referred to as Hung is actually Giap Van Quynh (born in 1983, from Bac Giang). After receiving the money from the victims, the defendant gave it to Hung.

Investigators searched Quynh's residence but found no documents related to the case. They attempted to question her, but Quynh stated she did not know Ly, therefore there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

At the trial, the defendant Ly admitted to receiving money from the victims but stated that she had not yet determined when she would repay the debt. The female defendant explained her situation as a single mother raising three children alone, facing financial difficulties and therefore unable to repay the victims.

Below the courtroom, the victims' faces showed bitterness. Some had borrowed money and gold to give to the defendants. But after years of anxiously waiting for a "life-changing trip" that never came true, they are now forced to save every penny to pay off their debts.

The pain remains.

Among the victims attending the trial, a thin, haggard woman couldn't hold back her tears as she recounted how Ly approached and deceived her. She explained that due to their difficult circumstances, when Thai Thi Ly confidently claimed to have a network for sending people abroad for labor export, her family mortgaged their house and borrowed 600 million dong to help her son go overseas.

However, years of waiting in vain have plunged her family into hardship. The pressure of mortgaging their house to borrow money from the bank, while her husband is terminally ill, has become unbearable for her and her children. In desperation, she had to sell their house to pay off the debt. Currently, the mother and her children are living in temporary rented accommodation while continuing their journey to recover the lost money.

Meeting Thai Thi Ly in the courtroom, she uttered reproachful words but said she would be willing to ask for a reduced sentence if the defendant returned the money to them. However, the defendant repeatedly shook her head, leaving her with no choice but to shed tears and endure her anger.

The victims attending the trial all shared the same sentiment. They stated that, out of trust, they had given the defendants large sums of money. After a long wait, their plans to emigrate remained stalled, disrupting their lives. Many victims had to borrow money to give to the defendants, meaning they are now burdened with large amounts of interest and facing immense hardship.

While acknowledging the defendants' actions as violations of the law, the court also reminded citizens to carefully research the procedures and ensure that the centers are legally qualified to send people abroad for work. The dream of working overseas is legitimate, but often, people's complacency, lack of research, and reluctance to go through the necessary procedures create loopholes for unscrupulous individuals to commit crimes.

After the trial, the panel of judges concluded that, although the defendants were not licensed by competent state agencies to operate in consulting, brokering, recruiting, and sending people to work abroad, they organized illegal emigration for others for personal gain.

In this case, defendant Thai Thi Ly committed the crime as the mastermind and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. For her role as an accomplice, defendant Phong Thi Bich Thuy was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison; Ta Van Trung was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison; Nguyen Thanh Huyen received a 30-month suspended sentence; and Dang Thi Tuyet received an 18-month suspended sentence.

The trial has concluded, but the suffering of the victims is far from over. Billions of dong were lost in the scam – and it's unknown when they will ever be recovered.