On March 19, the People’s Court of Da Nang city sentenced Tran Thi Thu Hanh (29 years old, resident of Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang city) to a total of 16 years in prison for the crime of “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and “Forgery of stamps, documents of agencies, organizations; using counterfeit stamps or documents of agencies, organizations”.
According to the indictment, Hanh was acquainted with Mr. Nguyen T.Q. (45 years old, from Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province). Hanh introduced herself as the CEO of a consulting company with many relationships and connections, capable of providing land use rights certificates (red book).
Defendant Tran Thi Thu Hanh in the trial.
Trusting her, from January to August 2022, Hanh deceived Mr. Q. into transferring a total amount of over 1.5 billion VND to create fake land use right certificates and documents.
Specifically, on January 4, 2022, Mr. Q. gave Hanh a handwritten file (three-sheet file) of a piece of land on Da Son street, Hoa Khanh Nam Ward, Lien Chieu District, with an area of 100m2 to make a red book. Hanh asked for 400 million VND. Mr. Q. agreed and made three transfers totaling 310 million VND to Hanh.
After receiving the money, Hanh searched for information on social media and met a man named Kieu (whose background is unknown) to create fake red books. After receiving the fake red book from Hanh, Mr. Q. transferred the remaining 90 million VND to Hanh.
Not knowing that the red book was fake, in early May 2022, Mr. Q. continued to give Hanh a file to request the issuance of a red book for another piece of land in Hoa Khanh Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, with an area of 200m2. This time, Hanh asked for 580 million VND. After receiving the money, Hanh contacted the person named Kieu again to create 2 fake red books and gave them to Mr. Q.
On the third occasion, Hanh used a trick to inform Mr. Q. that his land plots were included in the planning, so he needed to request the separation of plots and change the position of the land to a better location on a main road. The cost this time was increased to 600 million VND. Mr. Q. agreed and later received the forged decisions and documents from Hanh. Mr. Q. also transferred the promised amount of 600 million VND to Hanh.
In court, the defendant Hanh admitted to her criminal behavior. She explained that her reason for committing the crime was due to business losses and debts.
The People’s Court of Da Nang city sentenced defendant Tran Thi Thu Hanh to 13 years in prison for the crime of “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and 3 years in prison for the crime of “Forgery of stamps, documents of agencies, organizations; using counterfeit stamps or documents of agencies, organizations”. The total sentence for Hanh is 16 years in prison.
