Màn kịch giả chết để trục lợi bảo hiểm

Nguyen Thi Thu staged her own death to claim over 1.2 billion VND in insurance money, but was discovered when the person declared "dead" unexpectedly returned to request the removal of her death certificate.

On December 17th, the Quang Trung Ward Police received information from the Ward People's Committee regarding a woman claiming to be Nguyen Thi Thu, 41 years old, residing in Phu Son residential area 3, who requested the removal of her death registration. Previously, in 2020, the local authorities had processed a death certificate for a person with the same name and personal information.

Initial verification revealed that this woman was indeed Nguyen Thi Thu, who had been issued a death certificate extract by the former Phu Son Ward People's Committee on June 8th, 2020, with the cause of death listed as "sudden death." Noticing unusual circumstances, the Quang Trung Ward Police reported the case and transferred the file to the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police Investigation Agency for handling.

Nguyen Thi Thu was arrested. Photo: Lam Son

According to the investigation, in 2017, Thu divorced and returned to live with her mother, Tran Thi Thap, 70 years old. While working away from home in the southern provinces, Thu purchased four life insurance policies from two companies.

In 2020, after discovering she had cancer and experiencing family conflicts, Thu conceived the idea of ​​faking her death to collect insurance money, discussing it with her mother. Initially, Mrs. Thap objected, but later agreed out of fear that her daughter might commit suicide.

According to the plan, on the morning of June 7, 2020, Thu took sleeping pills, pretended to fall in the bathroom causing scratches and bleeding, and then lay motionless. The family reported to the authorities and relatives that Thu had died of sudden death. The embalming and funeral arrangements were carried out quickly and discreetly.

At midnight that same day, Thu woke up, quietly left home, stayed at the house of a person who practiced traditional rituals, and then moved to Dong Nai province to live.  Only Thu, her mother, and an intermediary knew about the fake death.

A full funeral was held, and the body was buried as if the person were truly dead. Relatives and neighbors came to pay their respects, and no one suspected anything.

Ms. Thap has been identified as an accomplice of her daughter in the shocking insurance fraud case. Photo: Lam Son

On June 8, 2020, Ms. Tran Thi Thap completed the death registration procedures for her daughter and received a legally valid extract. She then contacted insurance companies to collect payouts.

Investigators determined that three contracts with Prudential Insurance Company paid out over 682 million VND, and one contract with Phu Hung Insurance Company paid out 600 million VND, totaling over 1.28 billion VND.

Because Thu no longer had identification documents or bank accounts, this money was transferred through many relatives and acquaintances for Thu to invest in real estate and business.

Revealed After 5 Years

At the end of 2025, after a period of living anonymously, Thu returned to her hometown and applied to have her death certificate revoked to resolve personal paperwork issues, leading to the discovery of the case.

During questioning by the investigating authorities, Thu admitted to all her actions, confessing that she had considered suicide but feared not receiving insurance payouts, so she chose to fake her death to "change her life."

[Image caption: The fake grave of Nguyen Thi Thu. Photo: Lam Son]

On December 18th, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police Investigation Agency initiated a criminal case for insurance fraud, and temporarily detained Nguyen Thi Thu and Tran Thi Thap for investigation. Authorities are expanding the case to clarify the responsibilities of those involved.

According to Article 213 of the Penal Code, insurance fraud involving the misappropriation of over one billion VND is punishable by law.