Six face trial in southern Vietnam for stealing prize-winning lottery tickets

By An Nam   January 6, 2019 | 07:54 am PT
Six people in Long An Province face prosecution for stealing two prize-winning lottery tickets worth VND3.6 billion ($155,000).
Huynh Thi Thu Suong (R) and her husband stole a winning ticket of a customer in the souther Long An Province, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Long An Police

Huynh Thi Thu Suong (R) and her husband stole a winning ticket of a customer in Long An Province. Photo courtesy of Long An Police

Thanh Hoa District police plan to charge Huynh Thi Thu Suong, 48, Huynh Van Du, 61, and four others for stealing two prize-winning lottery tickets.

In September 2017, Huynh Van Be Ba, 43 then, bought two Soc Trang Province lottery tickets from Suong at her café. Another local resident, Ba's acquaintance, Tran Van Thuyen, 49, bought six tickets from her. 

The next morning, Ba returned to the café and asked Suong to check the numbers because he didn’t know how to do it. Suong checked and told Ba that they hadn't won anything and threw the tickets on the ground.

Ba picked up one of the two tickets and gave it to Du, who was selling fish across the street, so he could check it. However, Du put the ticket in his shirt pocket as Thuyen came to buy some fish at that moment.

Ba and Thuyen returned to the café, and Thuyen checked the tickets. He found that his six tickets had won a consolation prize of VND50 million ($2,152), while Ba’s two tickets, whose numbers he (Ba) remembered, had won two special prizes worth VND3.6 billion ($155,000).

But when Ba asked Du and Suong for the tickets, both denied having them.

Two days later, Du gave the ticket to his son, who asked Nguyen Van Da, 41, to receive the prize, which was transferred to Da’s account.

Suong took the other winning ticket that she’d thrown to the ground to fool Du, and gave it to her husband who received the prize money.

She asked her sister to buy a house in Ho Chi Minh City with the money and kept the remaining VND800 million ($34,442) with her.

Ba reported the theft of his two tickets to the police.

Da, who received the prize money from one of them, admitted his actions and returned all the money he had taken. 

However, Suong and her husband denied the allegations and did not admit their wrongdoing until eight months later, when the police took them into custody.

Ba has so far received only VND2.1 billion ($90,410) of the VND3.6 billion ($155,000) that was taken from him.

 
 
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