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The Hanoi People’s Procuracy has just issued an indictment to prosecute Tran Thi Minh Hue (born in 1980, residing in Dich Vong ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi) for “Fraudulent appropriation of property.”
According to the indictment, Hue introduced herself to the victims as having connections with commercial banks in Hanoi and being prioritized to buy USD at the bank rate, thus profiting from selling it on the free market.
To gain the victims’ trust, Hue accessed the “Foreign Exchange Rates” page to view the rates of the State Bank and several commercial banks. She then chose a USD rate from one of the banks and called gold and silver shops to inquire about the free market rate. From there, Hue set a specific price to inform the victims.
The buying rate for USD was always lower than the free market rate but higher than the bank rate. Hue explained that the difference was the “commission fee” when buying USD at commercial banks.
Using this scheme, Hue invited the victims to invest and then appropriated the funds for personal use. The total amount she fraudulently appropriated was over VND 140 billion.
One of the victims, Luu Thi L. (born in 1974, in Hanoi), suffered a loss of VND 21.1 billion. Hue had persuaded her to contribute capital for investing in buying USD and selling it on the free market to profit from the exchange rate difference.
On August 15, 2022, Hue informed Ms. L. that she could buy USD from a bank at 22,500 VND per USD. Ms. L. agreed to contribute capital, and from August 15, 2022, to October 23, 2022, she transferred VND 30 billion to Hue. Upon receiving the money, Hue used it for personal spending and debt repayment.
To maintain Ms. L.’s trust, Hue returned VND 8.9 billion to her as interest and confirmed that she still held VND 21.1 billion. Subsequently, Hue stopped returning the money and cut off contact with Ms. L.
The heaviest loss was suffered by Vu Thi Thanh T. (born in 1976, in Hanoi). She initially gave Hue up to VND 185 billion to exchange for USD. The accused used the money to buy USD and returned it to the victim to build trust.
The next day, Ms. T. started transferring money to Hue, totaling VND 103 billion. However, this time, Hue did not fulfill her commitment and only transferred VND 8.5 billion to her, claiming it was the “profit” from buying and selling USD. Hue appropriated the remaining amount of over VND 94 billion for personal spending. After failing to retrieve their money, the victims reported the case to the police.
During the investigation, Hue confessed to registering and using 11 bank accounts under the name of Tran Thi Minh Hue to receive and transfer money to the victims. She only used a portion of the received funds to buy USD on the free market at a higher price to repay the victims.
Hue went to banks in Hanoi to withdraw cash. At the banks, she approached individuals with a need to transfer money into accounts, businesses depositing money for transactions, salary payments, etc. Hue would agree to receive cash from these individuals and transfer the amount to their accounts directly.
She stated that she did not know these individuals personally, had no relationship with them, and could not remember the banks where the transactions took place. Hue claimed that due to business losses, she used the appropriated money from the victims to repay debts and for personal spending.
During the investigation, the authorities froze and blocked transactions on the accounts to which Hue had transferred money. Additionally, they also blocked transactions on two apartment units, a Lexus RX350 car, and other valuable assets owned by Hue.
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