On December 5, the People's Court of Vinh Long province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Phan Thi Hong Sam (born in 1984, residing in Ward 9, Vinh Long City, Vinh Long Province) for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".
According to the indictment, defendant Sam encountered financial difficulties due to business losses and mounting debt. On September 20, 2023, the defendant asked Mr. Le Duy Khanh (residing in Vung Liem district) to borrow 1.2 billion VND, promising to repay it after 3 days. However, when the due date came, the defendant was unable to repay the debt.
To continue to turn money, Sam deceived Ms. Le Thi Hong Dung (residing in Ward 2, Vinh Long City) by making up a story that the defendant owned 2 plots of land in Tan Hanh Commune, Long Ho District, which were being mortgaged to ACB Bank, Vinh Long Branch, to borrow 1 billion VND. Sam lied that someone had agreed to buy these 2 plots of land for 1.5 billion VND and deposited 50 million VND, but needed to borrow 950 million VND from Ms. Dung to pay the bank and withdraw the land use right certificate for the transaction.
To gain trust, Sam made a commitment to repay the above amount within 3 days. However, after receiving the money from Ms. Dung, Sam used this money to pay off Mr. Khanh's debt. Although many days late as committed, Sam could only repay 100 million VND, so Ms. Dung filed a complaint with the police.
Based on the above content, the Trial Panel sentenced the defendant Phan Thi Hong Sam to 8 years in prison for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", and at the same time recovered the amount of money that the defendant had previously borrowed from the victims.
