On March 19, the People’s Court of Danang city sentenced Tran Thi Thu Hanh (29 years old, resides in Hoa Khanh Bac ward, Lien Chieu district, Danang city) to a total of 16 years in prison for the crimes of “Fraudulent appropriation of property” and “Counterfeiting seals, documents of agencies, organizations; using fake seals 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 “General Director” of a consulting company and boasted about having many connections and acquaintances, which gave her the ability to obtain land use certificates (red books).
Defendant Tran Thi Thu Hanh at the trial.
Trusting her, from January 2022 to August 2022, Hanh deceived Mr. Q. into transferring a total amount of over 1.5 billion VND to “process” documents for obtaining red books and land papers, but in reality, the red books were counterfeit.
Specifically, on January 4, 2022, Mr. Q. gave Hanh a set of handwritten documents (three sheets) about a land plot on Da Son Street, Hoa Khanh Nam ward, Lien Chieu district, with an area of 100m2, asking Hanh to obtain a red book for him. Hanh quoted a price of 400 million VND. Mr. Q. agreed and transferred a total of 310 million VND to Hanh in three installments.
After receiving the money, Hanh searched for information on social media and met a man named Kieu (whose background is unknown) to make fake red books. After receiving the counterfeit red books from Hanh, Mr. Q. transferred the remaining 90 million VND to Hanh.
Unaware that the red books were counterfeit, in early May 2022, Mr. Q. again handed over a set of documents to Hanh, asking her to process the issuance of a red book for another land plot in Hoa Khanh Bac ward, Lien Chieu district, with an area of 200m2. This time, Hanh quoted a price of 580 million VND. After receiving the money, Hanh continued to contact someone named Kieu to make two counterfeit red books and handed them to Mr. Q.
On the third occasion, Hanh used the trick of providing information that Mr. Q.’s land plots were subject to planning and required a procedure to divide the plots and exchange for better located land on a main road. The cost this time was raised to 600 million VND. Mr. Q. agreed and thereafter received fake decisions and documents from Hanh. Mr. Q. also transferred the promised amount of 600 million VND to Hanh.
In court, the defendant Hanh admitted her criminal acts. Hanh explained that her reasons for resorting to criminal activities were due to business losses and debts that forced her to take risks.
The People’s Court of Danang city sentenced the 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 “Counterfeiting seals, documents of agencies, organizations; using fake seals or documents of agencies, organizations.” Hanh’s total sentence was 16 years in prison.
