Fraudulent Appropriation of Property

The remarkable development of information technology has significantly brought material and spiritual benefits for people. On the other hand, however, it becomes a means abused to appropriate property in a more and more complex and subtle way.

What is fraudulent appropriation of property?

Fraudulent appropriation of property means using deception to appropriate another person’s property. The typical feature of this crime is deception/fraud made by offenders.

Elements constituting a crime of fraudulent appropriation of property

Fraudulent appropriation of property is regulated at Article 174 of the 2015 Criminal Code (amended in 2017). 1.

Subject of the crime

A person is full 16 years old or above, does not suffer from a mental disease or another disease when committing the crime that causes him/her to lose his/her awareness or control of his/her behaviors. Any person from full 14 years old to under 16 years old is not criminally responsible for his fraudulent appropriation of property.

Object of the crime

The object of this crime is the ownership of the Government or organizations or individuals over their property. Of note: this crime does not infringe moral rights, so the law does not regulate damages to life, health, dignity and honor as criteria for aggravation of penalty.

Objective side of the crime

  • Objective acts: the offender (fraudulently) appropriates the property.
  • Consequences caused by the crime: Damages to the property i.e. the value of appropriated property.

Subjective side of the crime

The offender commits the crime on purpose.  He/she wants to appropriate the property.

What are penalties applicable to fraudulent appropriation of property?

If it falls into either of cases provided in Article 174.1 of the 2015 Criminal Code

These are basic forms of fraudulent appropriation of property. The applicable penalty is up to 03 years’ community sentence or 06 – 36 months’ imprisonment.

If it falls into either of cases provided in Article 174.2 of the 2015 Criminal Code (detailed below), the applicable penalty is 02 – 07 years’ imprisonment.

  • The organized crime: It means the accomplices, including at least an organizer and a perpetrator, cooperate closely in committing the crime. There may be cooperation of an instigator and/or an abettor.
  • The crime is committed in a professional manner: It means the offender deliberately commits the crime five times or more. He/she relies on property appropriation as means of livelihood and appropriated property as source of livelihood.
  • Appropriating the property assessed from VND50,000,000 to under VND200,000,000: In this case, the key factor is assessing the value of the appropriated property if it falls within the said range of value.
  • Dangerous recidivism: Recidivism is a situation in which a person who has a previous conviction for the same offence which has not been written off deliberately commits a very serious crime or involuntarily commits an extremely serious crime. Dangerous recidivism is a situation in which: (i) a person who has a previous conviction for a deliberate very serious crime or extremely serious crime which has not been written off deliberately commits a very serious crime or an extremely serious crime; or (ii) a person who repeated the same offence for which the conviction has not been written off deliberately commits another criminal offence.
  • The crime involves abuse of the offender’s position or power or committed in the name of an agency or organization:Abuse of position or power: An office-holder means a person who is given certain duties and power through appointment, election, contract conclusion, or another method. An office-holder might or might not receive salaries. Officer-holders in non-State-owned enterprises and organizations are excluded.Committing crime in the name of an agency or organization: The offender uses the agency or organization to which he/she is a member to defraud to appropriate property. For example, the offender uses commercial contracts to defraud other agency or organization by making the victims to believe that they are dealing with his/her agency or organization.
  • The offender employs cunning tricks to commit the crime: Using cunning tricks to appropriate property means the offender uses tricks and sinister ways to make the victims and others to be unable to predict and prevent the crime.

If it falls into either of cases provided in Article 174.3 of the 2015 Criminal Code (detailed below), the applicable penalty is 07 – 15 years’ imprisonment.

  • Appropriating the property assessed from VND200,000,000 to under VND500,000,000: As same as the case provided in Article 174.2 of the 2015 Criminal Code, the value of the appropriated property is the base to determine the applicable penalty.
  • The offender takes advantage of a natural disaster or epidemic to fraudulently appropriate property.

If it falls into either of cases provided in Article 174.4 of the 2015 Criminal Code (detailed below), the applicable penalty is 12 – 20 years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment.

  • Appropriating the property assessed from VND500,000,000 or over: As same as the case provided in Article 174.2 of the 2015 Criminal Code, the value of the appropriated property is the base to determine the applicable penalty.
  • The offender takes advantage of a war or state of emergency to fraudulently appropriate property.

Additional sentences applicable to the offender

As provided in clause 5 of Article 174 of the 2015 Criminal Code, apart from primary sentences mentioned above, the offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND10,000,000 to VND100,000,000, or be prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain works for 01 – 05 years, or have all or part of his/her property confiscated.

How to denounce fraudulent appropriation of property?

The victims or affected persons can go through the below step-by-step process to denounce fraudulent appropriation of property:

Step 1: Collect proofs of fraudulent appropriation of property, such as: messages, record of conversations via phone, emails, banking statements of money transfer, etc. A full collection of proofs of fraudulent appropriation of property makes the content of the Denunciation letter clear, sufficient and grounded. Concurrently, it will help the competent authority to quickly accept and handle the Denunciation letter.

Step 2: Make the Denunciation letter

Step 3: Identify the competent authority to receive the Denunciation letter

Correctly identifying the competent authority to receive the Denunciation letter will help save the victim’s time and avoid case where the Denunciation letter is rejected or transferred to in-charge authority. The competence of authorities receiving and processing the crime denunciation/report and commencing criminal proceedings will be identified based on regulations of identifying the Court’s competence.

Step 4: Denounce the crime

The victim can choose either of the following ways to denounce fraudulent appropriation of property:

• Verbal denunciation: The victim can report the crime via phone or in person to the competent police identified at Step 3 above.

• Written denunciation: The victim can submit in person or by post the Denunciation letter to the competent police identified at Step 3 above.

Step 5: Follow up the settlement process of the competent authority The victim should proactively follow up and work with the competent authority to provide additional information, evidence or documents at his/her discretion or at requested to support the competent authority in quickly settling the case.

If you want to discuss with us about your critical issues in criminal cases of fraudulent appropriation of property, our Criminal Lawyers are always available at info@letranlaw.com.


  1. Article 174. Appropriating property by fraud

    1. A person who uses deception to appropriate another person’s property which is assessed at from VND2,000,000 to under VND50,000,000, or property assessed at under VND2,000,000 in any of the following cases, shall face a penalty of up to 03 years’ community sentence or 06 – 36 months’ imprisonment:
    a) The offender previously incurred a civil penalty for appropriation of property;
    b) The offender has a previous conviction for this offence or any of the offences specified in Article 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 175 and 290 hereof which has not been written off;
    c) The offence has a negative impact on social safety, order, and security;
    d) The appropriated property is the primary means of livelihood of the victim and the victim’s family.

    2. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 02 – 07 years’ imprisonment:
    a) The offence is committed by an organized group;
    b) The offence is committed in a professional manner;
    c) The property obtained is assessed at from VND50,000,000 to under VND200,000,000;
    d) Dangerous recidivism;
    e) The offence involves abuse of the offender’s position or power or committed in the name of an agency or organization;
    f) The offender employs cunning tricks to commit the offence;
    g) (removed).

    3. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 07 – 15 years’ imprisonment:
    a) The appropriated property is assessed at from VND200,000,000 to under VND500,000,000;
    b) (removed).
    c) The offender takes advantage of a natural disaster or epidemic to commit the offence.

    4. This offence committed in any of the following cases shall carry a penalty of 12 – 20 years’ imprisonment or life imprisonment:
    a) The appropriated property is assessed at VND500,000,000 or over;
    b) (removed).
    c) The offender takes advantage of a war or state of emergency to commit the offence.

    5. The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND10,000,000 to VND100,000,000, be prohibited from holding certain positions or doing certain works for 01 – 05 years, or have all or part of his/her property confiscated.