Impersonating a Government Office official, defrauding a business of more than 16 billion VND

On December 4, the Hanoi People's Court sentenced Vu Thi Huong Lan (born in 1982, from Quang Ninh) to 18 years in prison for "Fraudulent appropriation of property" and 5 years in prison for "Making and using fake seals and documents of agencies and organizations", a total sentence of 23 years in prison.

According to the indictment, Vu Thi Huong Lan often introduced herself as the niece of a Deputy Prime Minister and was working at the Government Office, in charge of representing social security funds with preferential interest rates. Lan told businesses that if they wanted to borrow this capital, they had to deposit money.

To gain the trust of businesses, Huong often arranged to meet and work at a house near the Government Guest House... The defendant also forged many documents and seals of high-ranking leaders of the Government, the Government Office and the Ministry of Finance... and sent them to the victims to see. These documents were forged by Lan at a price of 1.5 - 3 million VND/page, and the fake seals were made at a price of 8 million VND/piece.

With this method, Vu Thi Huong Lan defrauded 6 individuals and businesses with a total amount of more than 16 billion VND. In addition, Lan also approached 4 other business representatives to defraud but was not successful.

The victim who lost the most money was the director of a company in Can Tho. In 2021, after receiving a fake "Disbursement Order Notice" from the Government Office, the representative of this company transferred money or gave cash to Lan dozens of times with a total amount of more than 7.2 billion VND.

Lan also forged documents from the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee regarding the Eatam International Resort project. This project had actually been terminated by the government, but the defendant told businesses that he could appoint contractors for the construction, thereby appropriating nearly VND3 billion from two people.

During the process of resolving the case, the prosecution agency froze more than 9.3 billion VND of defendant Lan in many bank accounts and seized bonds worth more than 6.2 billion VND that the defendant bought from Ea Sup Company (Dak Lak)...

In the part of announcing the verdict and making decisions, the Hanoi People's Court of First Instance recommended that the prosecution agency be responsible for continuing to investigate and consider the behavior of an individual who shows signs of being an accomplice to Vu Thi Huong Lan to avoid letting criminals escape.

Regarding civil matters, the Court of First Instance also ordered the defendant to recover the entire amount of more than 16 billion VND that he had appropriated from the victims.