VietNamNet Bridge – A 40-year-old woman called herself a member of charity societies to swindle nearly 200 temples in northern provinces.

Police of the northern province of Hung Yen have arrested Nguyen Thi Thanh, 40, from Yen My district, Hung Yen province, for cheating Buddhist monks.

Thanh used false documents to disguise herself as a representative of charity society and disadvantaged people’s associations to come to temples to ask for donation.

The woman had successfully swindled nearly 200 monks who manage temples in Hung Yen, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh, Hanoi, etc. for tens of thousands of US dollars until she was arrested on September 29, at a temple in Khoai Chau district, Hung Yen province.

When she was arrested, the woman took with her a lot of personal papers, with different names.

The woman confessed that she disguised herself as a representative of the blind’s association to sell toothpicks. However, earnings from this job was not much so she used faked documents to turn herself into an official of charity societies and disadvantaged people’s associations to raise fund from a lot of Buddhist temples in northern provinces.

Thanh said with false documents, she could raise from VND1 million to VND10 million ($50-500) from each pagoda.

Many temples wished to raise orphans so this woman made faked files of orphans to cheat money from temples.

The woman confessed that she swindled around 200 pagodas in many provinces and cities to appropriate hundreds of millions of dong (tens of thousands of US dollars).

Compiled by Nam Nguyen