Vietnam fake-bride scam ringleader jailed 9½ years
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
A first-instance court in Vietnam’s Dong Thap province has convicted five Vietnamese defendants in a cross-border marriage fraud case and sentenced the alleged ringleader to nine years and six months in prison. The victim, a 38-year-old Chinese man surnamed Hao, was tricked into paying 280 million Vietnamese dong, equivalent to about RMB73,000 or HK$80,000, after the group staged a fake engagement and wedding process
Key Points
- The Dong Thap Province First Regional People’s Court delivered its first-instance ruling on September 4, finding all five defendants guilty of fraudulently appropriating property
- The alleged mastermind, 43-year-old Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, who reportedly spoke Chinese and had worked in a company, used the alias “Vo Thi Bich Huyen” and presented herself as a professional matchmaker
- The group recruited a 19-year-old woman, Nguyen Ngoc Thao, to pose as a 25-year-old bride, while others acted as the bride’s mother, uncle and neighbour
- The defendants rented a house for 500,000 dong and dressed it up as the bride’s family home before meeting Hao in Ho Chi Minh City and later taking him there to meet “her family”
- After collecting money for betrothal gifts, marriage paperwork and wedding preparations, the group allegedly took another 175 million dong and two new mobile phones before fleeing in My Tho City
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong and mainland readers considering overseas matchmaking or marriage brokerage, the case shows how fraud can be built around staged family settings, language skills and repeated payment demands rather than a single upfront transfer. The ruling also underlines the legal and practical risks of cross-border marriage arrangements conducted through informal intermediaries without independent verification