When sentencing the defendant, the Hanoi People’s Court took into consideration several mitigating factors for Nguyen Tuan Dung, including that he had once donated a kidney to save a life and that his father is a war veteran.

On April 2, the Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Tuan Dung (born 1996, from Thai Nguyen) to eight years in prison for fraud and appropriation of property.

According to the court, this sentence reflected multiple mitigating circumstances, including Dung's previous act of kidney donation, a letter from the victim requesting leniency, and the fact that his father is a war veteran classified as Category 3/4.

According to the indictment, since 2019, Dung had been a regular customer of self-drive car rental services offered by B.H.N. (born 1986, residing in Hoang Mai, Hanoi).

In August 2020, after suffering business losses, Dung devised a plan to rent a self-drive car and pawn it for cash.

On August 12, 2020, Dung rented a white 7-seater Kia Sedona from Mr. N. at a daily rate of 2 million VND (approximately USD 80). When the return date of August 22 arrived, Mr. N. called Dung repeatedly to retrieve the car. Dung, however, stalled and promised to return it by the afternoon of August 31.

On the agreed day, Mr. N. attempted to contact Dung, only to find his phone switched off. The car’s GPS had been disabled, rendering its location untraceable.

By mid-September 2020, Mr. N. spotted his vehicle being advertised for sale on Facebook. He promptly filed a complaint with the police, accusing Dung of fraud.

The investigation revealed that Dung had previously borrowed VND 2 billion (around USD 80,000) from a friend for business purposes. On August 10, 2020, he sought another loan but had no collateral. As a result, he rented a self-drive car and pawned it to borrow VND 320 million (about USD 12,800).

The car, valued at VND 610 million (around USD 24,400), was later recovered by police and returned to its rightful owner.

T. Nhung