Two Vietnamese Men Sentenced to 12 Years for Lottery Scam Involving Nearly 1 Billion VND

On 2 June, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court sentenced Nguyen Văn Tâm, 41, of An Giang, and Nguyen Tuấn Kiệt, 41, of Cần Thơ, to 12 years in prison for a large‑scale lottery fraud. The pair pretended to be lottery officials or acquaintances, using unregistered SIM cards to convince victims that they had won prizes or could invest for high returns. They persuaded victims to transfer money into accounts they controlled, stealing a total of 959 million VND (about 1 billion dong). Victims included Mr H (394 million VND), Ms T (150 million VND), Mr K (115 million VND), Mr B (230 million VND) and Mr C (70 million VND). The court also noted an attempted scam between 18‑22 April where Tâm posed as the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary to request a 500 million VND loan, which was rejected and therefore not prosecuted. The judgment highlighted the danger of such deception to public order and the need for a deterrent response.