Hundreds of ways, thousands of tricks to cheat

Lesson 1: Melaleuca prices fall and still get caught up in... a scam

The story of the sharp drop in commercial cajuput prices, difficulties in output, and the scams from cajuput traders have left heavy economic losses for the gentle, honest people in the cajuput forest land of U Minh.

People have to swallow the bitter pill of this scam story, because most of them do not report it to the authorities. During a business trip to study the lives of people under the forest canopy, we "discovered" this incident.

Melaleuca driver begs for debt then defaults on payment

For more than 2 years, people living under the canopy of U Minh Ha forest have been restless, because if they do not sell the cajuput trees when they are ready to harvest, it will be too late to plant new cajuput trees, and if they sell them, they will lose money. Not stopping there, some people are still bitter when some traders take advantage of the need to sell cajuput trees, raising the price higher to compete, but during the purchasing process, they find excuses to "break the deal", or ask for less money and then... disappear.

Melaleuca growers have additional income from beekeeping.

Mr. Nguyen Minh Duc, Head of the Veterans Association of Vo Doi Hamlet, Tran Hoi Commune, Tran Van Thoi District and many households here have been victims of debt defaulters. Mr. Duc said: In recent years, people here have faced many hardships: People are determined to maintain the traditional cajuput growing area to keep honey bees, to preserve the precious specialty of their homeland. However, with the current price of traditional cajuput being too low, traders do not want to buy, if they buy, they will pay 20-30 million VND/ha of cajuput for growing orchids; 40-60 million VND/ha of cajuput for making beds; that amount of money for 5-7 years of hard work is too little for the people. In addition to suffering and difficulties, people here were also deceived when after selling cajuput to traders, they promised to pay in 1 to 2 months, then disappeared. So people lost everything. In the hamlet, there were 3 cases of being deceived like that".

Mr. Ly Khanh Hiep, Vo Doi Hamlet, one of the victims, shared: My family has 1.4 hectares of cajuput and about 3 hectares of land for growing crops. While waiting for the cajuput to be old enough to be exploited, I, like the people here, grew crops, bananas, and fish to earn extra income to cover our daily lives, but in recent years, due to the need to build dams to retain water to protect the forest, many crops and fruit trees have been flooded. Therefore, 80% of the households here have had to abandon the crop growing model. Recently, cajuput prices have shown signs of falling, seeing traders offering 100 million VND/ha, higher than other traders, I decided to sell, but I did not expect this to happen.

Mr. Ly Khanh Hiep, Vo Doi Hamlet, Tran Hoi Commune, Tran Van Thoi District, is one of the victims who was cheated out of over 50 million VND by traders who bought cajuput trees.

"I trusted the traders to do business for a long time and they wouldn't dare to do anything wrong, so I let them pay 50% of the amount and promised to pay back 15 days later, but I didn't expect them to be so heartless. It seems like decades of hard work have been in vain, and we have also lost money on renovation and seedlings. We have replanted cajuput trees that are more than 2 years old, but the current price of commercial cajuput is much worse than before," Mr. Hiep added.

Similarly, Mr. Nguyen Van Gioi, 71 years old, in Hamlet 4, Khanh Binh Tay Bac Commune, Tran Van Thoi District, was also a victim. Mr. Gioi said: In July 2021, when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out, the cajuput trees were ready to be harvested, traders came to negotiate to buy at a price of 45 million/ha, equivalent to 180 million/4 ha, however, the traders cut down about 2/3 of the area and only paid 80 million and then gave up, not exploiting anymore. The amount of money the cajuput traders still owe is more than 30 million VND, and we have lost contact until now. 30 million for us is equal to 10 hectares of cajuput trees, after 5-7 years of care.

Find an excuse to "break the deal"

In early 2023, Ms. Huynh Hong Dieu, Tan Phu Hamlet, Ta An Khuong Commune, Dam Doi District called to inform and lead us to the forest land in Hamlet 14, Khanh Thuan Commune, U Minh District to verify the incident: She was sued by cajuput traders, accused of fraud and property appropriation, while they themselves committed fraud.

It is known that Ms. Dieu's land area is shown on the red book as nearly 11 hectares. The trader surveyed and measured it himself, then agreed to sign a contract to buy 7 hectares of commercial cajuput, at a price of 150 million VND/ha, with an exploitation period of 18 months, and the land will be returned in May 2021 of the lunar calendar. However, when the deadline came, the trader still had not completed the exploitation, making excuses that Ms. Dieu's land was 1 hectare short, demanding that Ms. Dieu's side agree to compensate the trader over 290 million VND.

Mrs. Dieu's forest land was left behind by 4 industrial and commercial workers, while the exploited area where she planted new cajuput trees is now over a year old.

Ms. Dieu did not agree, so the trader abandoned the remaining cajuput area and did not exploit it anymore. When the contract expired, even more than 3 months later, Ms. Dieu urged the exploitation but the trader remained silent. She had to call another trader to sell the remaining cajuput area to plant new cajuput trees, then the old trader filed a lawsuit, accusing Ms. Dieu of fraud and property appropriation.

Ms. Dieu said: Legally, I followed the correct procedures and contracts, so I decided to "stick to it" until the end. During the investigation and sentencing process, a surveying department came to re-evaluate the area of my cajuput forest. When they found out that the actual area was not lacking, even surplus, the traders quietly canceled the complaint. The Court decided to suspend the case, and the traders have remained silent until now.

Ms. Nguyen Hong Tham, Hamlet 4, Khanh Binh Tay Bac Commune, Tran Van Thoi District said: Around the end of 2021, when the Covid-19 epidemic was affecting the area, Melaleuca growers faced many difficulties. Melaleuca trees were ready for harvest, no matter how high or low the price was, farmers had to sell them in time to plant a new crop. At that time, I had 4 hectares of Melaleuca trees ready for harvest, but traders measured and reduced it to 1.7 hectares, with a price of 40 million/ha, after 5 years of hard work, I only earned more than 70 million VND, minus the design fee of over 20 million VND, seedlings of over 20 million VND, and the cost of hiring workers to plant Melaleuca trees, I was almost penniless.

Mr. Le Van Tram, Head of Hamlet 4, Khanh Binh Tay Bac Commune, said: In the past 2 years, the lives of people under the forest canopy in the area have encountered many difficulties. It is worth mentioning that households with about 3 hectares of land for production/household still cannot ensure their livelihood, although people have tried very hard to do business. Roughly calculating, out of 3 hectares, 1 hectare is planted with cajuput, planted for more than 4 years and can only be sold for over 40 million VND, the rest of the land is converted to grow bananas and other crops, now bananas have also decreased sharply, the price is only 1,000-1,500 VND/kg; rice cultivation is facing waterlogging, acid sulfate contamination, the summer-autumn crop has failed completely... Grasping the psychology of needing money to make ends meet, many forms of fraud have occurred and many people have fallen into the trap, including traders cheating people into buying cajuput.

Ms. Dieu has full documents and evidence to present to the press to reflect on mass media, to help people avoid being scammed.

Mr. Nguyen Phuong Nam, Deputy Director of U Minh Ha Forestry Company Limited, said: Recently, through the people's feedback, there has been a situation in the area where some companies and traders buying cajuput trees have been operating fraudulently and appropriating property. During the process of implementing the contract, people lacked knowledge of the law, the contracts were not strict, creating loopholes for traders to defraud and appropriate property.

"Specifically: When implementing the contract, traders give people a part of the money in advance, then they choose the best forest area to exploit first. When they see a risk or loss, traders withdraw, leading to contract disputes; or ask for a part of the debt and then default on the remaining amount, most households suffer losses. In the face of the above situation, the company has focused on supporting, consulting, and widely advising people on forest land. If necessary, the company will introduce or people will authorize the company to choose reputable traders, consider the terms before signing the contract, helping people feel secure in production, avoiding unfortunate risks like before," Mr. Nam added.

Regarding this issue, Ca Mau Newspaper reporter had an interview with Mr. Nguyen Van Su, Head of U Minh District Forest Protection Department. Mr. Su said: U Minh District currently has a total forestry land area of over 43,000 hectares, with 580 households and individuals allocated land and forests according to Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP. Currently, connecting product consumption such as buying and selling timber trees is still facing many difficulties, the price of cajuput trees is currently decreasing due to supply exceeding demand, making it difficult to consume products; the transportation of goods is mostly by waterway (small boats), leading to increased costs and reduced profits. This has caused many economic difficulties for organizations, households and individuals who grow forests and make a living from forestry. This could be an opportunity for a group of traders to squeeze prices, commit fraud, and cause difficulties for people as has happened in the past.

“However, most of the cases related to fraudulent traders in the purchase and sale of cajuput forests are not reported by the people, so the unit has no basis to find clues to handle. I hope that people will boldly report, asking for the intervention of the functional sector and local authorities to handle promptly, with deterrence and disseminate information so that everyone can be on guard, avoiding unfortunate losses,” Mr. Su added./.

Lesson 2: Trade-offs for greed

Loan Phuong

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