HÀ NỘI — Police in Hà Nội’s Bắc Từ Liêm District on Friday successfully busted a group of fraudsters suspected of producing and selling counterfeit hospital seals and documents.

The district’s Police Investigation Agency arrested the following suspects: Phan Công Định, who was born in 1988 and lives in the Nam Đàn District of Nghệ An Province; Trần Khắc Cảnh, born in 1997 and living in Ninh Giang District, Hải Dương Province; and Nguyễn Văn Học, born in 1997 and a resident of Hương Sơn District, Hà Tĩnh Province.
 
Relying on field work and scouting information, the Bắc Từ Liêm District Economic Police in March detected a group suspected of producing fraudulent health documents from several hospitals in Hà Nội and selling them to people applying for different jobs. The group only conducted their business online while constantly changing delivery addresses. After careful verification, the Police Investigation Agency commenced an investigation into the case.
 
An Economic Police team were patrolling around the porch of Hà Nội University of Industry in Minh Khai Ward on May 15 when they spotted a suspicious man carrying a pile of papers. Upon examination, the man was identified as Trần Khắc Cảnh, who eventually admitted he was selling physical examination papers from Bạch Mai Hospital. Cảnh was immediately escorted to police headquarters for investigation.
 
Cảnh claimed to be a Hà Nội university student experiencing financial difficulties. While he knew selling fraudulent documents was illegal, he said he found the practice to be easy and profitable, with each medical checkup paper from E Hospital costing him just VNĐ60,000 (US$2.63) and selling for VNĐ100,000 ($4.4). Cảnh said he had used fraudulent health documents three times and admitted getting them from Nguyễn Văn Học, another college student.
 
Học said he ordered fake documents from Định on social media, and that he had sold a total of 70 fake medical checkup certificates from Bạch Mai Hospital to Cảnh and others online since March.

Định admitted to forging the seals and stamps of Bạch Mai Hospital and Giao Thông Vận Tải (Transport) Hospital Joint-Stock Company and to producing fake samples of health certificates, hospitalisation documents, and discharging papers to earn easy money. He ordered forged seals and stamps from an unidentified source and made a fake seal of Bạch Mai Hospital to sell on social media websites.

To avoid being busted, Định only used social media, as well as various mobile phones and business addresses, to make illegal transactions.

Police found piles of fraudulent health documents after searching the three suspects’ residences.

The case is still undergoing further investigation. — VNS