On 12/12, Nguyen Thi Dung, 36, was sentenced to 19 years in prison by the TAND Ha Noi for fraud and forging seals and documents of agencies and organizations.
Dung has three prior convictions in 2021, 2023, and 4/2025, all for the same offenses. Combining this with her most recent sentence of 12 years, Dung will serve a total of 30 years, the maximum term for a fixed-term prison sentence.
In the same case, Tran Hoang Giang, 33, from Phu Tho, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Giang also has one prior conviction in 2011 for statutory rape.
The VKSND Ha Noi determined that Dung and Giang met in 2018. Both unemployed, they conspired to forge documents to borrow money from Sacombank and then embezzle it for personal use.
Around 8/2018, Dung researched bank loan procedures and found that Sacombank's Soc Son branch had convenient and quick disbursement processes, making it their target. Regulations allowed for higher loan limits if a couple applied together, so Dung suggested Giang pose as her husband to jointly apply for the loan.
Both had bad debt at the time. Dung borrowed ID card images from friends, then self-applied fingerprints. She asked Giang for a photo and identifying features to create a fake ID card. Dung also drafted a fabricated marriage certificate and a business registration certificate in Giang's name to demonstrate financial capacity. These documents were forged by an unknown individual for 3 million VND.
With the forged documents, Dung submitted a loan application for 3 billion VND at Sacombank's Soc Son branch.
According to procedure, Dung and Giang had to take bank employees to appraise the collateral. Dung continued her deception by borrowing assets from friends to prove financial capacity. She lied to a friend, claiming she was securing a loan for her younger sister's overseas employment, and borrowed the friend's garment factory to present to the bank. When officials inspected, Dung instructed her friend and workers to say the factory belonged to her.
Dung also used the fake documents to purchase a plot of land valued at one billion VND and received a land certificate on 24/8/2018. She then located a similar, but more strategically located plot, worth approximately 6 billion VND, presenting it as the couple's asset. This land certificate was provided by Dung to bank officials, along with the phone number of a person claiming to be the former owner of the land. When called for verification, this person, an accomplice enlisted by Dung, stated the land had been sold for nearly 6 billion VND.
Bank employees compared the surveyed plot's area, direction, and location with the land certificate information, finding similarities, and thus finalized the loan application. On 30/8/2018, Sacombank disbursed 3 billion VND. Dung spent the entire amount, not sharing it with Giang. About two weeks later, bank officials discovered that the collateralized plot was not the one appraised, and its value was lower than the disbursed amount, leading them to report the crime.
The one billion VND plot of land that Dung and Giang purchased with fake documents was valued at 3.5 billion VND in 3/2023.
The notary public office and the Soc Son branch of the land registration office did not detect the fake documents during the sales and land certificate issuance procedures. These entities were found to have followed proper procedures, received no benefit, and were unaware of the embezzlement scheme, thus avoiding prosecution.
Sacombank employees did not realize the appraised plot differed from the collateral. Authorities concluded they were misled by the deceptive information provided by Dung and Giang, failed to identify the scheme, and received no personal benefit, therefore not constituting a crime. The friends who lent Dung their ID cards and garment factory were also unaware of the fraudulent intent and received no benefit, so they were not prosecuted.
Hai Thu
