On 17/9, Le Truong Tho, 34, was sentenced by the Hanoi People's Court to 13 years in prison for fraud and 12 years for embezzlement, totaling 25 years. Tho had a prior 28-month sentence in 2020 for drug trafficking, which had not yet been expunged from his record.

After his release, in 2022, Tho was hired by a gold shop owner and their spouse in the former Ha Dong district, to deliver goods to customers who bought and sold gold and foreign currency. His monthly salary was 7 million VND.

Defendant Le Truong Tho in court. Photo: Danh Lam

Defendant Le Truong Tho in court. Photo: Danh Lam

Exploiting his employers' trust, Tho embezzled 2 billion VND. On the afternoon of 4/6/2024, a customer contacted the shop to purchase 170,000 USD. The owner set the selling price at over 4.37 billion VND (25,750 VND/USD), with the transaction to take place at the customer's home in Mo Lao Urban Area.

While waiting for the customer to count the money, Tho opened his phone and played Baccarat online, losing 410 million VND from his bank account. After receiving the full 170,000 USD, the customer transferred 4.37 billion VND to Tho's account.

The indictment states that Tho then decided to embezzle the money, transferring 1 billion VND to eight different accounts for gambling. Returning to his employer, Tho lied, claiming his account was frozen with 2 billion VND and he could only transfer 2.3 billion VND. The owner agreed and asked him to transfer the 2.3 billion VND to their son's account.

With 1 billion VND still remaining after the transfer, Tho continued gambling online and lost it all. To keep gambling, Tho then deceived the shop owner's wife. That evening, he called her, falsely claiming another customer urgently needed to sell 40,000 USD at a price of 25,670 VND/USD. Trusting him, she agreed and transferred over 1 billion VND to Tho's account. Upon receiving the money, Tho gambled and lost everything that night.

Having lost 3 billion VND in a single day, Tho confessed to his employers the next day, admitting he had no money to repay them.

On 10/6/2024, the victims filed a complaint with the police. Three days later, Tho surrendered.

During the investigation, Tho confessed to starting online gambling earlier in 2024. The accounts he used to transfer the money were provided by the gambling website and required deposits.

The individuals whose names were on these accounts confirmed they did not gamble online, did not know Tho, and were not involved in the fraud. Consequently, investigators did not prosecute them but recommended local administrative penalties.

According to the Personal Data Protection Law, effective from 1/1/2026, using another person's personal data, or allowing others to use one's own personal data for illegal activities is prohibited. Buying, selling, or allowing others to use bank accounts for criminal purposes can result in administrative penalties or criminal prosecution.

Hai Thu