"Areca-boiling medium" in Kinh Mon arrested for fraud

On February 9, 2023, "Areca-boiling medium" Truong Thi Huong was administratively punished (documentary photo)

According to the investigation results, on December 6, 2022, Mr. Tran The X. and Ms. Vu Thi H. (born in 1967, Mr. X.'s biological mother) went to the house of Truong Thi Huong (born in 1986, in Hien Thanh ward, Kinh Mon town, Hai Duong) also known as "Co dong bo cau" to have her fortune told, see feng shui and learn about the difficulties the family was facing. "Co dong bo cau" gave information that Mr. X.'s house was cursed, there were ghosts in front of the house, causing bad luck. To solve this problem, Huong said that they had to perform a ritual to dispel evil spirits (ie, have a human figure to replace their life), move the house to change its number, perform a ceremony to match the house's direction, and worship the incense burner.

Huong suggested to Mr. X that the total cost of the ceremony to change the house number, to sell the house, and to pray for peace was 270 million VND. Mr. X explained that his family's circumstances were difficult and he could not afford such a large sum of money, so the "Areca-bo Dong" reduced the price to 180 million VND and promised that after the ceremony, the house would be sold around December 28, 2022.

Receiving money from Mr. X's family, Huong made an appointment to come to her house on the afternoon of December 9, 2022 to go to Lang Son to worship. After worshiping, Mr. X waited until December 28, 2022 but could not sell the house. Knowing that he had been scammed, Mr. X filed a complaint against Huong's actions with the police.

Previously, on February 9, 2023, Kinh Mon Town Police fined Huong VND 7.5 million for providing and sharing information promoting superstitions, obscenities, depravity, and incompatible with the nation's traditions and customs according to Point b, Clause 1, Article 101, Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP dated February 3, 2020 of the Government, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 14/2022/ND-CP dated January 27, 2022 of the Government stipulating sanctions for administrative violations in the fields of post, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology, network information security and electronic transactions.

The case continues to be investigated and clarified.

PV