41-year-old Nguyễn Thị Thu has been detained by Thanh Hoá Police on charge of insurance fraud. — VNA/VNS Photo

THANH HOÁ — Thanh Hoá Police said they have uncovered a case in which a woman who had been declared dead five years earlier returned and applied to have her death registration annulled after fraudulently obtaining more than VNĐ1.2 billion (about US$45,600) in insurance payouts.

Last week, on December 17, Quang Trung Ward Police (Thanh Hóa Province) received a report from the Quang Trung Ward People’s Committee stating that a woman identifying herself as Nguyễn Thị Thu (born in 1984), residing in Residential Area No. 3, Phú Sơn Ward, Bỉm Sơn township, Thanh Hóa Province (former administrative unit), now Quang Trung Ward, Thanh Hóa province, had requested the annulment of her death registration.

Five years earlier, a person with the same name, Nguyễn Thị Thu, had been declared dead by her family in the area, raising suspicions that required clarification.

After receiving the report, Quang Trung Ward Police conducted initial verification using professional measures and established that the Nguyễn Thị Thu requesting the annulment was indeed the same Nguyễn Thị Thu whose death had been registered five years earlier, and for whom the former Phú Sơn Ward People’s Committee had issued Death Certificate Extract No. 80/TLK-BS, dated June 8, 2020.

Detecting numerous irregularities and signs of criminal activity, Quang Trung Ward Police reported the case and transferred it to the Investigation Police Agency of Thanh Hóa provincial police for further investigation under its jurisdiction.

Within a short time, the provincial police collected sufficient documents and evidence, compelling Nguyễn Thị Thu to confess to her offence and admit that she had faked her death to defraud insurance companies.

According to the case file, in 2017, Thu divorced her husband and returned to live with her biological mother. During this period, Thu travelled to work in southern provinces and purchased four insurance policies from Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited and Phú Hưng Life Insurance JSC.

In 2020, after discovering she had cancer and frequently arguing with her mother, Thu became disgruntled and conceived the idea of faking her death to “change her identity” and collect insurance payouts. She therefore discussed the plan with her mother, Trần Thị Thập (born 1955), to devise an elaborate “fake death” scenario.

At first, Thập did not agree, but determined to carry out the insurance fraud, Thu did everything she could to persuade her mother.

Working with investigators, Thập stated: “When I first heard her talk about it, I firmly refused, but she threatened that if I did not go along, she would bite into an electric wire and really kill herself. Then I would lose my child and still not receive any insurance payout.”

The plan involved Thu taking sleeping pills and staging a fall in the bathroom leading to sudden death. To avoid detection, mother and daughter hired a shaman from Hoạt Giang Commune, Thanh Hóa Province (who died in 2022), to assist with staging a fake burial.

After agreeing on the “script”, on the morning of June 7, 2020, Thu took sleeping pills, went into the bathroom and staged a fall face-down on the floor, causing abrasions to her face and nose and bleeding, before returning to bed to “play dead”.

After informing local authorities and relatives that Thu had fallen and died of “sudden death” so as to coordinate funeral arrangements, the perpetrators quickly organised the enshrouding of the body. This process was carried out entirely in secrecy, with only Thu, her mother, and the shaman – who had all been in on the plan – aware of the truth.

The “fake death” plot devised by Nguyễn Thị Thu and her mother was quickly exposed. — VNA/VNS Photo

Around midnight on June 7, 2020, Thu regained consciousness and secretly went to stay temporarily at the shaman’s house, before later travelling back to Đồng Nai Province to work.

With the carefully constructed scenario, neither authorities, local residents, nor even close relatives and family members suspected anything. A real funeral was held for a person who was not actually dead; relatives, friends and neighbours came to pay their respects, bid farewell, and properly bury the “deceased”.

After Thu had “died”, on June 8, 2020, Thập went to the former Phú Sơn Ward People’s Committee to complete death registration procedures for Thu, citing “sudden death” as the cause, and was issued Death Certificate Extract No. 80/TLK-BS.

Afterwards, Thập contacted insurance staff and completed procedures to claim payouts on Thu’s insurance policies.

A search of Thập’s residence led investigators to seize one notice from Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited confirming payment of three policies totalling more than VNĐ682 million, and one notice from Phú Hưng Life Insurance JSC confirming a payout of VNĐ600 million.

After receiving the money, Thập gave it to Thu’s younger sister to transfer to Thu for real-estate investment and some AI investment. As she was “dead” and had no identity documents or bank account, Thu had to use several acquaintances as intermediaries to avoid exposure.

Working with investigators,Thu admitted: “Because of my illness, I thought about committing suicide, but I also thought about not having fulfilled my filial piety. If I killed myself, the insurance would not pay out, so I faked my death to get the insurance money. After faking my death, I intended to go far away, cut off all contact, and have nothing more to do with my family.”

The Investigation Police Agency of Thanh Hóa provincial police has issued a decision to temporarily detain both Thập and Thu on charge of insurance fraud.

At the same time, police are continuing to collect evidence against other related individuals in order to expand the investigation. — VNS