Recently, the People's Court of Quang Tri province has been hearing several cases related to renting self-driving cars and then pawning or selling them for misappropriation. The People's Court of Quang Tri province recently held a trial for the case of "Abuse of trust to misappropriate property" and "Using forged documents of agencies and organizations" against Nguyen Van Hoanh (born in 1995, residing in Huong Hoa district, Quang Tri province).

According to the investigation results, between March 19 and May 30, 2022, Nguyen Van Hoanh rented self-drive cars in Da Nang City three times for transportation. Afterward, Hoanh conceived the idea of ​​appropriating these cars to pay off debts and for personal expenses. To carry out the appropriation, Hoanh searched online and ordered a forged citizen identification card and three car registration certificates with Da Nang license plates, registered under Nguyen Van Hoanh's name, to facilitate the pawning process.

Subsequently, Hoanh successively pawned three cars along with forged documents at pawn shops in Hue City. The total value of the assets that Nguyen Van Hoanh misappropriated was over 2.1 billion VND. After considering the details of the case, the Judging Panel sentenced Nguyen Van Hoanh to 15 years in prison for two charges: "Abuse of trust to misappropriate property" and "Using forged documents of an agency or organization".

Previously, Le Quang Vu (born in 1983, residing in Phu Hoi Ward, Hue City) was also prosecuted by authorities for the crime of abusing trust and appropriating property. According to initial investigations, Vu rented a Porsche car (license plate 75A 115…) from NHS (born in 1990, residing in Thuan Hoa Ward, Hue City) as a means of transportation. He then pawned the car at a pawn shop owned by VVSH (born in 1981, residing in Tay Loc Ward, Hue City) for 4 billion VND, using the money to pay off debts and for personal expenses.

According to authorities, those who rent self-drive cars and then sell or pawn them often use methods such as: renting attractive phone numbers and using them to contact rental companies; forging vehicle documents, identity cards, and household registration papers with unclear information; and readily paying high cash deposits to deceive rental companies. However, immediately after renting the car, they will drive to a pre-arranged garage to remove the GPS tracker and then sell the vehicle outright.

There are individuals posing as business owners renting vehicles for companies. In reality, setting up a rental business isn't difficult and only costs around 3 million VND. They then gain the trust of rental companies, who are willing to rent vehicles at high prices and for long periods, monthly or yearly. They then install GPS tracking devices on the vehicles and immediately sell or pawn the rented cars. Most of these car owners are inexperienced and gullible, so they lose their vehicles if they rent them to these scammers.

Given the sophisticated tactics of those who rent cars to resell or pawn them, car owners should check their Zalo contact information after receiving a call from a potential tenant. In addition, car owners must require renters to provide full identification, including ID cards and collateral. They should also regularly monitor the vehicle's travel history, and if any irregularities are detected, they must take immediate action to prevent the property theft and notify the nearest police station.

According to the provincial police investigation agency, through the investigation and verification process, the police found that the car rental procedure is very simple, and the perpetrators take advantage of this to sell or pawn the vehicles. Rental car owners need to be more vigilant and carefully verify the information of those renting the cars. Rental cars should also be equipped with dashcams. In reality, self-drive car rental is a business with many risks, and in most cases, by the time the fraudsters are caught, all the stolen money has already been spent. At that point, the losses fall on both the rental company and the person who pawned or bought the car.

Based on these incidents, authorities advise that businesses and individuals renting out self-drive vehicles should be more vigilant against criminal tactics, carefully verify the information of renters, and fully implement legal procedures and measures to secure rentals, in order to avoid unfortunate risks.

THAI SON