Fraudulent labor export, "businessman" Bui Van Hieu in Thanh Ha receives life sentence

Sophisticated tricks

VIC HD International Education and Cooperation Company Limited on Lac Long Quan Street, Hai Tan Ward, Hai Duong City (abbreviated as VIC HD Company) was established in July 2020 by Hieu who asked someone else to be the owner but directly managed and operated it himself. VIC HD Company did not have a license to operate a service of sending workers to work abroad, but Hieu still hired Facebook to advertise about the company's activities of sending workers to Canada. When workers came to submit their applications, Hieu required them to take tests such as: Carrying a 10 kg bag of rice to check their health; using chopsticks to pick up and sort green beans and black beans to check their quick eyes and hands. All workers who came to submit their applications had to have a health check at the hospital designated by Hieu...

When there are customers, the consulting company's staff can send them to Canada to work at a cost of 250 million VND/person. Each worker must pay 55 million VND in advance. After successfully leaving the country, the family will pay 75 million VND, the remaining 120 million VND will be paid gradually from the worker's salary while working in Canada. The salary is about 58 million VND/month, the working term is 2 years and can be extended for another 2 years... All the money collected from the workers is given to Hieu.

By December 2020, the staff realized that Hieu could not send workers to Canada to work as previously introduced, so they informed the workers to come to VIC HD Company to get their money back. In fact, many people came to VIC HD Company to ask for their money back and Hieu refunded it.

Big money scam

However, it did not stop there, according to Hieu's statement, at the end of 2020, Hieu knew an account named "Hong An" on Facebook. This account posted content about having a labor source in Canada. After that, Hieu got to know Tang Thi Huyen (freelance worker). Huyen and her family members wanted to go to work abroad. Hieu said that he had an order to go to work abroad in Canada for 13,000 USD/person. Hieu also told Huyen that he had a cousin named "Hong An" who is currently residing in Canada. "Hong An's" father-in-law works at the Canadian Immigration Department, and is the person who directly approves labor export applications in Canada... All procedures for applying for a visa and exporting labor to Canada will be much faster and more convenient.

On January 18, 2021, Hieu took Huyen and her relatives to the Canada Visa Application Center in Ho Chi Minh City to submit their Canadian visa application and do the biometric procedures, take fingerprints, take photos... Seeing the possibility of going abroad to work, Huyen trusted and agreed to find workers according to Hieu's request. The two agreed that Huyen would find workers who wanted to go to Canada to work, receive the documents, and use the name of the Head of Recruitment Department of VIC HD Company to sign the contract. Huyen collected money from customers and then transferred it to Hieu at a cost of 13,000 - 15,000 USD/person. Hieu was responsible for taking care of the visa and "Hong An" did the sponsorship procedures in Canada, booked air tickets, took care of work and accommodation in Canada for the workers.

During the period from January to May 2021, despite knowing that VIC HD Company did not have the function of sending people to work abroad, Huyen received money and documents from 58 people with a total amount of more than 15 billion VND. Huyen's actions were brought to trial, and he was sentenced to 8 years and 6 months in prison for organizing others to flee abroad. After Huyen was arrested, Hieu fled but was arrested in March 2023.

On February 5, 2024, the People's Court of Hai Duong province opened the first-instance trial of Bui Van Hieu. At court, Hieu confessed to all his crimes. Hieu admitted that Huyen had transferred more than 13.4 billion VND and 200 million VND in cash to him. Although the defendant returned the money to some victims, it was only a very small part compared to the amount he had appropriated.

The court sentenced Bui Van Hieu to life in prison for fraud and property appropriation, forcing Hieu to pay back the victims a total of more than 14.4 billion VND. Regarding the woman named "Hong An", the investigation agency did not have enough evidence to determine whether this person really existed or was made up by Hieu.

The case continues to be a warning bell for those who want to work abroad but are deceived because of gullibility.