Borrowing money to go abroad but unexpectedly fell into a scam trap

Exposing illegal immigration 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 others to flee abroad”, many people were present at the court from early morning. Many of them traveled a long distance to attend as victims.

They shared that their family life had been miserable all this time because they believed in the promise of going abroad to change their lives from Ly and his accomplices. However, after paying hundreds of millions of dong, their path to going abroad has not yet been realized. What is more heartbreaking is that many families are currently in debt because of their dream of going abroad.

The mastermind of this case is Thai Thi Ly. Around mid-2021, Ly met a man named Hung who worked in labor export services. Hung introduced to Ly that he could send Vietnamese people to Australia to work with a crew visa, valid for 3 years, at a cost of 28,000 USD/person.

In early 2022, Hung continued to advise Ly on the possibility of completing procedures for workers to go to Canada by traveling to Dubai, then applying for a Canadian visa and then staying illegally to work. When arriving in Canada, workers will be welcomed and arranged to work in agriculture with a salary of 60 to 80 million VND/month, the cost of travel is 14,000 USD/person. For the purpose of profit, Ly agreed to find people who wanted to go abroad to consult, receive money to pay Hung to enjoy the difference.

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

Ly discussed and agreed with Ta Van Trung to do the procedures for people to go to Canada at a cost of 16,000 USD/person. After that, Trung discussed and agreed with Tran Thi Thinh (who has fled and is currently wanted) and Nguyen Thanh Huyen on how to find people to go abroad and raised the cost to 18,000 USD/person. Thinh continued to discuss with Dang Thi Tuyet, increasing the cost to 20,000 USD/person...

They all agreed on the content and form of going to Canada to work by traveling to Dubai for about 15-30 days. After that, they would continue to complete the procedures to go to Canada to illegally stay and work. At each step, Trung, Thinh, Huyen and Tuyet raised the cost by 2,000 USD/person to enjoy the difference.

The investigation agency determined that from January 2021 to September 2022, Thai Thi Ly received more than 6.1 billion VND, organized 19 people to enter Dubai 3 times on tourist visas, with the purpose of continuing procedures to go to Canada, Australia, France, Germany... to work illegally, illegally profiting more than 2.8 billion VND.

Meanwhile, Phong Thi Bich Thuy received more than 1.2 billion VND, organizing 2 trips for 13 people; Ta Van Trung received 87,000 USD and nearly 500 million VND, organizing 2 trips for 9 people; Nguyen Thanh Huyen received 915 million VND, organizing 2 trips for 4 people. Dang Thi Tuyet alone received more than 1 billion VND, organizing 2 people to illegally leave the country.

The workers were promised that after arriving in Dubai, they would continue the procedures to go to Canada. But in reality, they were abandoned in Dubai, and none of them were allowed to continue. When they returned empty-handed and repeatedly asked for money but were not satisfied, the victims filed a complaint with the police.

The mastermind speaks out

Before the witness stand, the 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 stated that they were only “intermediaries” who received the documents and money and then gave them to Thai Thi Ly.

But the mastermind - Thai Thi Ly, claimed that she was just a link in this chain, a subordinate of a man named Hung. According to Ly's testimony, the man often called Hung's real name is Giap Van Quynh (born in 1983, in Bac Giang). After receiving the money from the victim, the defendant gave it to Hung.

The investigation agency searched Quynh's residence but did not discover or seize any documents related to the case. They took a statement but Quynh said he did not know Ly, so there was not enough evidence to prosecute him.

At the trial, defendant Ly admitted to receiving money from the victims but did not know when she would repay the debt. The female defendant explained that she is a single mother, currently raising three children on her own, and has a difficult life, so she is not yet able to repay the victims.

In the audience, the faces of the victims showed bitterness. Some had to borrow money and gold to give to the defendants. But after many years of waiting for a “life-changing trip” that did not come true, they now had to contribute every penny to pay off their debts.

The pain is still there

Among the victims who came to court, a thin woman with a haggard face could not hold back her tears when recounting the process of Ly approaching and defrauding her. She explained that due to difficult circumstances, when she heard Thai Thi Ly confidently affirm that there was a network to send people to work abroad, her family mortgaged their house to borrow 600 million VND to take care of her son going abroad.

However, after many years of waiting in vain, her family fell into misery. The pressure of mortgaging the house to borrow money from the bank while her husband was seriously ill made it impossible for her and her children to bear the burden. As a last resort, she had to sell the house she was living in to pay off the debt. Currently, the mother and children have to rent a temporary place to live and continue the journey to reclaim the lost money.

Meeting Thai Thi Ly in the courtroom, she reproached her but said she would be willing to ask for a reduced sentence if the defendant returned the money to them. However, the defendant kept shaking his head, leaving her in tears, enduring her anger.

The victims who came to court all shared the same sentiment. They said that because of trust, they gave the defendants a large amount of money. After a long time of waiting, the situation of going abroad was still at a standstill, causing their lives to be turned upside down. Among them, many victims had to borrow money to give to the defendants. That means they are now having to pay large amounts of interest, suffering in every way.

The defendants’ actions were considered illegal, but at the trial, the panel of judges also reminded people to carefully study the procedures and that the center had sufficient legal conditions to send people to work abroad. Because the dream of going abroad to work is legitimate. But many times, people’s subjectivity, lack of understanding, and reluctance to complete the procedures are loopholes for bad guys to commit crimes.

After the trial, the panel of judges determined that, although they were not licensed by a competent state agency to operate as consultants, brokers, recruiters, or send workers abroad, for personal gain, the defendants organized others to flee abroad.

In the case, defendant Thai Thi Ly committed the crime as the mastermind and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. As an accomplice and helper, 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; defendant Nguyen Thanh Huyen was sentenced to 30 months in prison with a suspended sentence and Dang Thi Tuyet was sentenced to 18 months in prison with a suspended sentence.

The trial has ended, but the pain of the victims is still far from over. Billions of dong were lost - no one knows when it will be returned.