Crazy landlord steals my motorbike
I moved into 19/35 Tran Dinh Xu, district 1, Saigon on the 10/5/16. I was only staying a month so I stupidly gave my landlord Tran Khanh Tran https://www.facebook.com/trankhanh.tran.5?fref=ufi one months rent and one month security deposit without signing a contract straight away. I started noticing she would come into my room when I was out and move stuff. I asked her to not enter my room and she said she had to pull all my power plugs out every day as it was a “fire risk”. After a few days I decided I needed to move out and asked for some of my money back, she refused to give any money back but encouraged me to leave.
Things went downhill quickly as she had also failed to register my passport with the police. The dispute culminated in me coming downstairs on the 30/5/16 to find my motorbike; which I had parked inside the property, had gone missing. Theft is a huge problem in Vietnam and every property has huge security gates at street level that should be kept locked at all times. When I moved in I asked why there was no lock on the gate and she told me that it was safe as all the neighbours looked after each other. My stupid mistake number 2.
We argued and it became apparent that she had stolen my bike. She told me that I would get the bike back once I moved out. I wanted the bike back before I moved out. After arguing back and forth for 30 minutes I realised I wasn’t getting the bike back. We were on opposite sides of the kitchen table and I’d noticed her move a cleaver closer to her. I grabbed the cleaver and put it on top of a kitchen cabinet where she couldn’t reach it. She had already been swinging a bug zapper racket at me while shouting “electricity” so I didn’t want her to have access to any other weapons.
She had 2 smart phones in her hands which she was ringing people on. She kept glancing at the front door, I was getting nervous that she had rung someone to come round and help threaten me. I decided I needed to leave ASAP. I grabbed both her phones out of her hands, she got slightly upset and threw some cups and glasses at me. I went upstairs and packed my bags and left. I also hid an old phone she has left in the living room under a pile of newspapers (the house was filthy). I told her if she wanted her phones back she needed to get my bike back.
I walked out and got a Xe Om (motorbike taxi). Apparently after I left the police arrived and there was much discussion. I booked into a hotel on Pham Ngu Lao and did what Aussies do best when upset. Got drunk with a mate.
8am the next day I woke up hungover with a call from the visa agent who was handling my visa extension. He needed me to come with him to the immigration department as there was a problem with my visa. When we got there an immigration agent ushered me straight into an interview room on the 3rd floor. He told me that I had a fake visa stamp from January 2016 and that I had to pay a 5 million VND fine. Lots of expats got caught by the same visa agent scam, see https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g293921-i8432-k9458065-Check_your_VISA-Vietnam.html. But at the time I thought Khanh had caused it as she had threatened to report me to immigration.
As I was arguing with the guy about the fine; I was surprised by the landlady and 4 cops walking into the interview room. She knew people there and got tipped off I was there. They escorted me outside and “invited” me to the police station to discuss the missing phones. I politely declined their offer and tried to walk away. Cops surrounded me, we argued a bit, then 5/6 cops wrestled me to the ground and handcuffed me. Drove me to the cop shop and it was looking grim. I was handcuffed to a cell door for 15 minutes until I talked them into uncuffing me. Showed them the video of her talking about my bike on my mobile and their mood changed. They became very nice. We joked, they went and bought me some lunch, I wrote a statement. But they said they didn’t have enough evidence to charge her. They told me to keep the phones as compensation, wrote up a final report and I went home. I logged into facebook, zalo, skype and gmail on her phones and sent messages and video to all her contacts explaining what she had done. I also posted on Facebook warning people about her. The next day I got an SMS from her and the negotiation/crazy talk began.
Lots of other expats posted on Facebook that they had been ripped off by her as well. Very similar stories of losing motorbikes and rent/deposit money.
Few things I did to pressure her into returning the bike…
- Started a Facebook group for people who got ripped off by her. https://www.facebook.com/groups/274464946239337/?hc_location=ufi UPDATE this group got taken down, new group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1074000609394296/
- Posted flyers around the backpacker areas (See below).
- Posted flyers around her neighbourhood and talked to her neighbours. They already hated her for being a crook and because she was from Hanoi (Saigon and Hanoi hate each other).
- Talked to the police and the local people’s committee.
- Contacted Khanh’s son Mr Trung.
Mr Trung was less crazy and helped resolve this whole mess. My SMS negotiation with Khanh was going nowhere. My friend negotiated with him and organised a meet to do a trade. I wanted the bike and the 3.6 million VND I’d lost in return for the phones but we settled on the bike and 2 million. After 2 weeks I finally had my bike back. I got a lot of advice and help from both expats and Vietnamese who saw my flyers or Facebook posts. I want to thank everyone for their support. I leave Vietnam in a few days but I still love this crazy country. Tam biet everyone!
UPDATE 28/01/17 This scam is still occurring, I’ve been contacted by several tenants after I left who have been ripped off in the same way. I’ve been contacted by Khanh and her daughter through the youtube comments who are offering me money to take down the videos. I’ve posted an ad on craigslist warning people about this here. https://vietnam.craigslist.org/roo/5964165637.html?lang=en&cc=us
Recovered Comments (14)
Fuck man nice going. I still can't believe she'd give you the bike and admit she's a criminal! Great work.
Fuck the Australian criminal! Fuck guy drug addict from 18 years old and aborted by parents!rnĐù mẹ mày, mẹ mày không dạy được mày à, thằng trộm cắp bị công an Viet nam còng tay, nhục quá. Mỗi đêm ngủ với 1 con điếm để rồi chúng nó đến nha đánh ghen lúc nửa đêm. Mẹ mày mới là đồ ăn cắp đẻ ra thằng con ăn cướp. Có ngày vào tù con ạ. Ngày đó không xa đâu, loại ăn trôm cắp và chim chuột gái, con cặc mày k biết nhét vào đâu.
mày nói láo, mày thử về VN xem, bọn tao cho mày ăn đòn, thang cướp giật (mobilephone robber) , tiếc là chúng tao chưa đánh cho mày què giò.
Fuck Howza Goin, fuck your Mum gave birth to such a addicted guy like fuck you. rnFuck you sold tattered old bike for drug. Slander others without evidence is criminal in Viet nam. It was fuck you to rob her 2 mobilephones is criminal, at least these two sins put you into jail again for long long time until Death God take fuck you to the hell!!!!!
Hi Tim,rnI am Bich Ngoc, your last year landlord's daughter.rnI know your story between you and my mum from your writing and from my mum's telling. My English is not so good, but I will try to make you understand me.rn Now my mother is in the hospital, waiting for very important cancer surgery, if it's not successful, my mother will not stay with us any more. On the threshold of death, she wants everything with you is over.rnBefore leaving VN, you promised to stop everything, because you had won ( through the VN middle girl Loan, she knew everything, but we were not sure she explained to you or not): it was lucky we found your bike ( with the help of the police) and we had paid a lot for it ( if we couldn't find it, we could buy another one for you, from 1-2milli0n vnd, about 40-70usd), b/c you need your own, it took our effort, time and more money. And you won: b/c you got more money 2million vnd for the 2 mobile phones you had grabbed from my mum.rnReally at that time all of us wanted to give you a good lesson for your behavior, but it was my mum to persuade us let you move out of VN on that date.rnSo Tim, you said you won ( you got everything you want) and delete your bad writing everywhere. But until now you didn't keep your promise, you didn't do it. Really you need more money from us? how much to delete all? We want to notice you that we also have a lot of your photos from the moment you were handcuffed at Immigration Bureau and police station and from your FB.rnWe don't share the same culture, we never insult someone by all means on internet. If we have any problem with someone, we settle among ourselves. We had thought that it was settled, but you try to cause a war. What would you think if we do the same things to you? Is that good or bad?rnThe last word with you: keep your promise to delete all your writings on us.rnVietnamese New year is coming, we wish you good health and happier life.rnThanks for your kindness!
If you didn’t have any evidence, never insult Vietnamese people. They can report to the police according to the criminal laws. Where are you now, you will be punished if you are in Vietnam or this will be kept in the police’s records. rnMy friend did the same 3 months ago and got the same endings.
I do have evidence. Your threats are laughable.
How fortunate that you were about to "find" my bike. You can't pay me off, not gonna settle until you stop stealing from people. Please don't post any photos of me that would embarrass me.
Your English is really improving, I especially like the phrase "until Death God take fuck you to the hell".
Thanks Murf, some of the comments they're posting are hilarious.
Thanks to your online-efforts, I've avoided falling into this trap (posts are still up / online again on craigslist and other sites).rnrnIf you need someone to install updated flyers around D1, I'd be happy to do so (will be in HCMC all of April 2017). rnrn-Andy
Whew, I'm glad I saw this story before contacting her about a room. I do not think it's a conspiracy, I think your mom is shady and got a bit of something she deserved. Anyway you try to explain it, your mom comes off as a horrible person. If she wasn't the one stealing the bikes, why wouldn't she make a better effort keeping safe? She is obviously a sociopath with no regards to anyone. Not even to her family. to teach your family to steal? Great parenting! Her family is damaged and they don't even know it. This is the life they know and being a civil is lost to them. It would be 1 thing if it was just 1 person making this claim, but numerous people have come forward with the same story. And the fact that the police allowed him to keep the phones after he was in custody says a lot. I think the only true way of clearing her name is by her returning everything she stole. We all know that's never going to happen, therefore, you will forever be known as a thief and overall shitty person.
I'm sorry you had to deal with scum like her! Kudos for giving her a headache she's long deserved. Keep spreading the news about her and her family's dodgy business ethics.
The author of this dirty writing is an addicted Australian named (****ADMIN REMOVED****), nicked Howza Goin used a fake visa into Vietnam and rented a month in our house in D1, HCMC without any deposit.rn Right in the first night he stole something in my house and took prostitutes home, then a lot. The prostitutes quarreled and fought each other in his room. By the end of that month, I asked him to move out. At last, he stole 1 phone and snatched my 2 smart phones in my hands, and rushed out of my house.rnI reported to the IMM police, he was arrested and handcuffed at the police station. He was fined 5 million vnd and expelled out of Vietnam the second time. Then he posted a lot of defamation videos and slandering writings of me. He blackmailed me many times. The first time I paid him a lot of money for removing these videos and writings, but he didn't do as promised and asked more and more. We intended to post up all his handcuffed pictures here too, but he's so filthy for us to care, it's wasteful of time. We think that he's really like a dying dog try to bark, to shout to gain the pity from others who don't know the story, and try to save his dirty face,