Actor on crime show jailed for swindling $71,000 by posing as court official

A Hanoi court Wednesday sentenced Nguyen Duy Hung, 37, to 13 years in prison for "fraudulent appropriation of property" after finding him guilty of taking bribes of VND1.8 billion (US$71,000).

Hung was part of the crime anthology broadcast by national television channel VTV3.

The judges said that with his experience as an actor and skills acquired from the show he acted as a high-ranking official of the Supreme People's Court to scam several people by promising jobs and legal assistance in 2022.

He deceived a man named Tan, promising to get drivers’ jobs for two people at the Prison Management Division for US$5,000 each.

Tan paid him VND185 million but nothing happened for four months.

Tan also paid Hung VND300 million for securing bail for a friend detained for "gambling" but again nothing happened.

Hung tricked another person, Chung, into paying VND345 million to secure a job for his wife at a major bank.

He took VND1 billion from a man named Chien to help appeal a court verdict of seven years in jail for a relative for drug-related offenses.

Since Hung did nothing, Chien demanded his money back but only got VND200 million.

Tan made the first complaint against Hung in November 2022.

The police said Hung had no affiliation with any of the agencies he claimed to have sway over.

Hung initially told the police the bribes were loans before admitting to impersonation and using the money for personal expenses.

The court said Hung had pocketed a total of VND1.8 billion through the schemes and also ruled that he had to repay the amount in full to the victims.