Couple lured people to become monks, swindled and sold "magic weapons" to steal 100 billion, mysterious whereabouts

Dak Lak Provincial Police are expanding the investigation into the case of the couple Nguyen Anh Tuan (39 years old) and Nguyen Thi Nho (37 years old), residing in Binh Duong province, who used superstitious tricks and sophisticated tricks to lure people into practicing and defrauding people.

Tuan and Nho were identified as having bought more than 6 hectares of land in village 3, Ea Khal commune, Ea H'leo district, and then built hermitages. After that, the subjects devised a scenario for a number of people to come to this area to practice asceticism and swindled nearly 100 billion VND from the 3 practitioners.

According to Mr. Le Hong Quan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ea Khal commune, in 2021, Tuan bought a field in the commune located far from residential areas, with difficult access roads and fences around the field, the gate is always closed so few people can access it.

Mr. Quan said that in 2022, the local authorities learned that Mr. Tuan had built a house of about 60 square meters on the field and invited him to the commune to work, make a record, and request that the construction stop. However, Mr. Tuan then quietly expanded and built prefabricated and assembled houses.

"Through sources, we learned that there were people who came to practice and were deceived by Mr. Tuan, mainly people from other places. No one in the locality has been involved in the incident," said Mr. Quan.

The Ea Khal Commune Chairman added that the area is not a religious facility but only a place for people to practice at home. Currently, the area is protected by the police to serve the investigation process, so the local authorities have not yet had a close look at the scene.

The plot of land that Tuan and his wife bought is located at the end of village 3, Ea Khal commune. It has a large area, with many industrial crops planted inside. Scattered across the field are a small church and 6 hermitages for religious practice.

Outside, the subjects built a solid gate, with two pink Hello Kitty statues on top. The path leading to the field was poured with concrete, making passersby mistake it for the path leading to a family-sized homestay.

Mr. D., who lives in Hamlet 3, Ea Khal Commune, said that through information in the press, the villagers learned about the "earth-shattering" incident at this plantation. Before that, no one knew that there was a practice inside the plantation, deceiving the people.

"The plantation area is fenced around, always closed, occasionally people come in and out. There are no large gatherings here," said Mr. D. Regarding the case, Dak Lak Provincial Police have prosecuted and detained Nguyen Anh Tuan and Nguyen Thi Nho to investigate the crime of property appropriation. The method of Tuan and his wife is to lure practitioners to buy "magic weapons" for hundreds of millions to billions of dong to "soon attain enlightenment, soon become immortals".

The couple also buried a number of objects throughout the farm and falsely claimed that they were precious "magic weapons" that were rare in the world and could help practitioners attain enlightenment soon.

Believing Tuan and his wife, the monk was willing to buy these items at "sky-high" prices. In fact, Tuan bought these items for several hundred thousand dong, the highest was 250 million dong, and sold them for hundreds of millions of dong up to more than 5 billion dong.

During a search of the residence of the couple Tuan and Nho, the police seized 10 land use right registration certificates; 3 savings cards worth nearly 12 billion VND and many other valuable assets.

One victim said that through acquaintances, Tuan and his wife took him to Dak Lak to practice. Because he trusted the information Tuan and his wife provided, this person sold 3 houses in Hanoi to buy "magic weapons".

"I myself used to run 2 companies and have 3 houses in Hanoi. Believing Tuan and his wife, I sold my house and transferred my company to spend more than 50 billion VND to buy many items for my studies. Currently, I am financially exhausted after being deceived," the victim said.