S.Korean man sentenced to 14 years in Vietnam for stealing $100,000 from friend

Lee Hyun Soo, 32, was convicted of theft by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court after admitting to stealing the cash from the victim, Kim Man Seok.

According to court documents, Lee and Kim were friends who had known each other in South Korea before both moved to Vietnam for work.

In late 2023, Kim and his partner, Dinh Huynh My Thoa, returned to South Korea and asked Lee to check on their apartment in the Masteri Thao Dien residential complex in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thao Dien Ward.

Kim, trusting his friend, gave Lee the passcode to enter the apartment and the combination to the safe.

Lee checked the apartment and reported back that everything was in order.

Though Kim stopped asking Lee to check the apartment in early 2024, he did not change the access codes.

On June 13, 2024, Lee visited a casino at a Ho Chi Minh City hotel where he reportedly borrowed $50,000 from an unidentified South Korean woman to gamble on a slot machine, losing the entire amount.

Facing pressure to repay the debt, Lee returned to Kim’s apartment at around 6:30 am the next morning, used the access codes to enter, and stole 10 stacks of U.S. currency from the safe — totaling $100,000.

Lee used $50,000 to repay the woman and lost an additional $23,000 gambling at the same casino, according to the court.

Kim and Thoa were away on a trip to Hanoi on that day.

On June 15, 2024, they returned to Ho Chi Minh City, discovered the theft, and filed a police report.

Lee was arrested the following day.

The court said Lee had taken advantage of a position of trust to commit a serious offense and handed down a 14-year prison sentence.