Saigon restaurant director arrested for defrauding Aussie tourist with $30k credit card charge
Friday, June 30, 2017, 11:55 GMT+7
An Australian man who had to pay AUD39,429 (US$30,000) to dine at a restaurant in downtown Ho Chi Minh City last year has been found to be cheated by no one but the director of the very eatery in question.
Tran Tuan Minh, 22, was arrested by the municipal police on Thursday while serving as the director of the NightFall restaurant in District 1.
Minh now faces charges of “employing electronic devices for the appropriation of properties”, despite the lawsuit being dropped after fully refunding the victim.
The young director was found responsible for credit card fraud last year against Australian tourist Caracciolo David John, 45.
John and a group of friends visited the restaurant for dinner and a few games of billiards on the evening of August 10, 2016 and used two different cards issued by Australian banks to clear their bill early the next morning.
The eatery’s cashier then deliberately swiped both cards and asked John to enter his PIN multiple times, claiming there was an error with the card reader.
It wasn’t until John returned to Australia that he received an account statement from the bank showing he’d been charged a total of AUD39,429 (US$30,000) for the dinner at NightFall.
According to police investigation following the lawsuit filed by John’s legal representative in Vietnam, his bill for the night had been just under VND20 million (U$880).
Minh was found to have given orders to the restaurant’s employees to commit the fraud, and later withdrew the surplus from the bank for his own gain.
Last December, John dropped the lawsuit against the restaurant after being fully reimbursed for the scammed money.
Minh had reportedly attempted to bargain the refund down to 30 and 50 percent of the scammed money before agreeing to a full refund of VND683,150,000 ($30,000).
Minh also denied any involvement in the fraud, blaming his sister and restaurant owner Tran Thi Hong Phuong, 38, for the incident.
Although the lawsuit had been dropped, Ho Chi Minh City Police found that Minh’s conduct was “of an extremely serious nature” and “carried a grave impact on Vietnam’s image and tourist industry”.
The police therefore arrested Minh for further investigation into the scam.
An account statement from Caracciolo David John’s bank shows the money was transferred to the restaurant. Photo: Tuoi Tre
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
