Turning their home into a temple, conducting incestuous acts, giving false information about raising orphans (they are actually descendants) to call for charity were among the acts committed by the family of Cao Thi Cuc, 64, from Lap Thanh hamlet, Hoa Khanh Tay commune in Duc Hoa district in LongAn province.

The place was initially named Tinh That Bong Lai, but later renamed Thien Am Ben Bo Vu Tru. The illegal activities there have been described by the Long An Police. All the activities were conducted to commit charity fraud, using deception to obtain money from people who believe they were donating to a charity.

Most recently, the investigation agency under the Long An Police started legal proceedings against Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen, 33, for "swindling to appropriate assets". Nguyen was one of the most active charity scammers.

Prior to that, in late 2022, the police prosecuted a criminal case at the place called Tinh That Bong Lai organized by Le Tung Van, 92. The trial was suspended later, waiting for survey results. In early July, the investigation resumed.

The lies at Tinh That Bong Lai

Cao Thi Cuc and her family members had turned their home into a small temple at the center like the main hall of a Buddhist monastery.

The family members all had short hair, wore monk-like clothes and called themselves monks, nuns and novices. Their daily activities were organized like those at a real Buddhist monastery. The people produced many video clips and posted them on social networks, saying it was a temple.

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) confirmed that Le Tung Van had never become a monk, but proclaimed himself a monk, Venerable Thich Tam Duc. Van publicly ordained other Buddhists.

The video clips produced by Tinh That Bong Lai and posted on social networks led people to believe that Tinh That Bong Lai was a real pagoda and to honor Van as a "living Buddha".

The children living at Tinh That Bong Lai were called novices. They often appeared on TV and social media, and were declared as orphans raised by the temple. But in fact, the children were living together with their mothers.

They were told to call each other by other names to hide the real relationship of the mothers and the children. In the documents about the children were only the names of mothers.

In addition, the police discovered incestuous relationships there. The incestuous acts were investigated by Long An Police in an earlier case. Three months ago, agencies prosecuted Le Tung Van for his incestuous acts.

Committing fraud

In the 1990s, Le Tung Van set up a venue named Thanh Duc Orphanage and Nursing Home, located in Binh Chanh district in HCM City. It was introduced as a facility raising orphans and helpless old people, thus attracting large amounts of charity money from many places. 

In 2007, Thanh Duc Orphanage and Nursing Home was accused of operating without a license and denounced for committing child abuse and charity fraud. Investigation agencies tried to prove the accusations, but could not find enough evidence. Later, the facility was removed.

Nearly 10 years later, Le Tung Van once again appeared with the Cao Thi Cuc family and set up Tinh That Bong Lai, which, like Thanh Duc Orphanage and Nursing Home, served his charity fraud. 

With the strong development of social media, the swindling could be done in a more sophisticated way.

Many children at Tinh That Bong Lai appeared on TV in monk-like clothes and said they were orphans supported by Le Tung Van. Five children won high prizes when attending the ‘Thach thuc danh hai’ (Comedy Challenge) game show.

Afterward, money and charity items flocked to Tinh That Bong Lai.

Not only appearing on TV, the individuals at Tinh That Bong Lai also set up YouTube channels, personal Facebook pages and Fanpages, which all aimed to call for and receive donated money.

The social media pages showed two personal bank accounts owned by Le Thanh Hoang Nguyen and Le Thanh Nhat Nguyen for benefactors to remit money via the accounts. There was also an address for people to call to place ads.

Dam De