2 Vietnamese women arrested for faking death in $48,700 insurance fraud

The provincial Department of Public Security said on Sunday that Tran Thi Thap, 70, and her daughter Nguyen Thi Thu, 41, are being investigated for alleged insurance fraud after Thu was found to have falsely declared her own death in 2020.

The case came to light on December 17, 2025, when authorities in Quang Trung Ward received a request from Thu seeking to revoke a death certificate issued in her name.

Police later confirmed that the applicant was the same Nguyen Thi Thu, whose death had been officially registered in June 2020 under a death certificate extract issued by local authorities.

Investigators said evidence gathered during the probe showed that Thu had deliberately staged her own death to claim insurance payouts.

After leaving Thanh Hoa following the staged death and living without official legal status for over five years, Thu returned to the province to file the revocation request to resolve matters requiring personal documents, according to news site VnExpress.

According to the case file, after divorcing in 2017, Thu returned to live with her mother in Quang Trung Ward and later purchased three life insurance policies from Prudential Insurance Vietnam Co., Ltd. and one from Phu Hung Life Insurance JSC.

In mid-2020, Thu devised a plan to fake her death and discussed the scheme with her mother.

On the morning of June 7, 2020, Thap falsely informed relatives and local authorities that Thu had suddenly died after collapsing in the bathroom.

Investigators said that, in fact, Thu had taken sleeping pills and deliberately caused abrasions and bleeding to her face and nose before lying on her bed to simulate death.

The plan was kept secret, with only Thu, her mother, and a ritual master aware of the arrangement.

A staged funeral was later held at the family home, attended by mourners who believed Thu had genuinely passed away.

Around midnight that same day, Thu woke up and quietly left Thanh Hoa for the southern province of Dong Nai, where she lived and worked in secret, while her family went ahead with the fake burial.

On June 8, 2020, Thap completed the death registration procedures for her daughter, citing ‘sudden death’ as the cause, and received the official death certificate the same day.

She later contacted insurance agents and filed claims on Thu’s policies.

A search of Thap’s residence uncovered documents showing that Prudential paid out three policies totaling VND682,458,000 ($25,930), while Phu Hung made a payment of VND600 million ($22,800), bringing the total payout to around $48,730.

Investigators said Thap later handed the money to Thu’s younger sister, who transferred it to Thu.

The funds were allegedly used for real estate activities and artificial intelligence-related investments.

Thanh Hoa police said the investigation is ongoing.