Beware of the trick of paying money in advance to be sent to work abroad

Hundreds of people in Nghia An commune, Quang Ngai city, Quang Ngai province are

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chuc (born in 1983, residing in Pho Truong village, Nghia An commune) said that from March to June 2023, she and her husband borrowed 100 million VND from relatives to give to Ms. T (living in the same commune) to help the couple go to Korea to work.

According to Ms. Chuc, through the social network Facebook, she learned that Ms. TTG (a person from the same commune working in Korea) needed to find someone who wanted to go to Korea to work for a period of 6 months. "After discussing, G informed that a labor contract would cost 50 million VND, and when working there, the salary would be 25 million VND per month. Anyone who wanted to go would give G's sister, TTT, 35 million VND in advance to get a visa. When the paperwork and procedures are completed, they would pay an additional 15 million VND. It is expected that they will go to Korea in May or June 2023. Realizing that the working period is only 6 months, but if they try and save, after deducting expenses, the couple will earn nearly 200 million VND. Ms. Chuc's family borrowed 70 million VND and gave it to TTT along with the paperwork to do the procedures."

However, after paying the money and waiting for a long time without receiving any notification from TTT, Ms. Chuc was worried and kept texting and calling to ask. After many promises, in June 2023, TTT gave Ms. Chuc a piece of paper with foreign writing and urged her to pay enough money to get a visa.

Ms. Chuc said: The paper was all in foreign language so the couple did not know what it was, but they saw the pictures and some personal information so they believed it was a procedure to go abroad. Therefore, they continued to give TTT another 30 million VND and were always ready to "fly" to Korea. After the commitment deadline but still could not go, Ms. Chuc was worried, asked and was reassured to wait a little longer...

Similarly, Mr. Dinh Van Chu (born in 1989) and his wife, Ms. Le Thi Be Suong (born in 1991), in Tan Thanh village, Nghia An commune, gave TTT 55 million VND. After more than 2 months of overdue commitment, they still have not been able to go to Korea. They tried to contact TTT but could not reach them, so Ms. Suong and her husband suspected that they had been scammed.

Many other people in the same commune are in the same situation. "Most of the men in the commune go to sea, the women stay home and work for hire, life is very difficult. So when hearing the promises of the TTT women, everyone believes. Each person pays an amount ranging from 35-50 million VND," said Ms. Suong.

After falling into the trap of TTT's sisters, dozens of people in Nghia An commune had their dreams of going abroad to change their lives shattered. They had to find jobs everywhere to pay off the principal and interest they had borrowed; at the same time, they went to her house many times to ask for their money back but were chased away by TTT's husband, and TTT avoided them. Not knowing what to do, these people filed a collective petition to the local authorities in the hope that the authorities would intervene and get their money back.

According to statistics as of May 13, about 100 people have paid money to TTT, with a total amount of about 4.5 billion VND.

Ms. Pham Thi Cong, Chairwoman of the People's Committee of Nghia An Commune confirmed: At the end of August 2023, the People's Committee of the Commune received a complaint from a group of people accusing Ms. TTT of deceiving them into paying money to send them to work in Korea. After receiving the information, the People's Committee of the Commune directed the Commune Police to investigate and clarify the case. However, due to the large number of victims and the large amount of money, the case was transferred by the Commune Police to the Investigation Agency of Quang Ngai Provincial Police for handling and clarification.

"Every year, the People's Committee of Nghia An commune continuously informs the people about the policy of sending workers to work abroad, warns people to avoid being scammed, and at the same time the commune will act as a bridge with State agencies in the work of sending workers to work abroad when people need it. However, because of trusting acquaintances and relatives, many people still give money to TTT only to have it taken away," Ms. Cong added.

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