On 21/7, Chu Thi Thu Giang, 36, from Thanh Tri, Hanoi, a former administrative employee at Bac A Gold and Financial Investment JSC from 2014-2022, was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Hanoi People's Court for fraud and embezzlement.

The procuracy accused Giang of fabricating information while working at Bac A. She claimed the company offered a savings service through investment contributions with a 12% annual interest rate, loans with monthly interest rates from 1.5% to 8%, and investments in gold, diamond, and watch orders with profits from 15% to 25% per order.

To build trust, Giang stole blank investment certificates issued by Bac A, forged the General Director's signature, and used them to deceive her classmates and a neighbor.

Chu Thi Thu Giang at the court. Photo: Danh Lam

Chu Thi Thu Giang at the court. Photo: Danh Lam

Believing Giang's claims, three victims invested and transferred a total of over 107 billion VND to her between October 2018 and July 2022. To further solidify their trust, Giang returned 97 billion VND, claiming it was the principal and interest. She embezzled the remaining 9.6 billion VND.

The biggest victim was Huyen, Giang's high school classmate, who transferred over 100 billion VND. Of this, 76 billion VND was her personal savings, while the rest came from friends and family she had persuaded to join.

Authorities determined that in 2018, Giang approached Hanh, falsely claiming her company had many clients needing short-term loans for bank rollovers at interest rates up to 8% per month. Giang invited Hanh to invest in these loans for high returns.

Giang also claimed to be trading diamonds based on customer orders to solicit further investments, promising returns from 14.5% to 25% per order. Hanh, convinced, agreed and gave Giang money to invest. Seeing Giang return principal and interest on time, Hanh invited her family and friends to invest, but Giang failed to return over 6 billion VND.

The second victim, Giang's classmate Thang, invested over 6 billion VND and lost over 2 billion VND.

The third victim, Chien, Giang's neighbor, was lured in with a 12% annual interest rate. He agreed to deposit 800 million VND but wanted to deposit the money at the company's headquarters. Giang claimed the General Director was away.

To gain Chien's trust, Giang took a blank investment certificate from the company's safe, filled in Chien's personal information, forged the General Director's signature, and stamped it with the company's seal.

On the evening of 18/1/2021, Giang brought the certificate to Chien's house and received 800 million VND. Chien and his wife later made two more transfers, totaling 2.3 billion VND. Giang occasionally paid "interest," but still owes Chien 830 million VND.

During the investigation and trial, Giang confessed to fabricating the information to defraud investors in order to repay debts and cover personal expenses. She admitted to stealing the investment certificates from the company's unlocked and unattended safe. She spent all the money she collected and didn't deposit any of it into the company's account.

At the end of July 2022, unable to repay the victims, Giang quit her job and fled to Ho Chi Minh City.

Bac A Gold and Financial Investment JSC confirmed it had raised capital through financial investments and issued investment certificates. Since the company stopped raising capital in 2018, these certificates remained in the safe and had not been destroyed.

Hai Thu