Joel Huynh
SANTA CLARA COUNTY — The Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against a South Bay resident who prosecutors say swindled several women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
According to Deputy District Attorney Georg Behrens of the Major Fraud Unit, “Joel Huynh, also known as Phuoc Nguyen, is facing multiple felony charges after hoodwinking numerous Vietnamese-American women into giving him more than $200,000.”
41-year-old Huynh began posting on Facebook and other social networking and dating websites about a well-to-do man looking for love. Several women answered his ad for love and soon found themselves swindled out of thousands of dollars.
Once Huynh had taken these women into his confidence he would ask the women to cash a personal check that he had given to them after making the deposit through an ATM.
The checks were to help Nguyen with a sudden financial need for a family member. However, the checks were fraudulent and did not have sufficient funds to process through the bank. Leaving the women to suffer the burden of losing thousands of dollars from their own accounts.
Huynh was arrested and arraigned on 15 charges of grand theft, and passing a bad check.
According to the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office, seven victims have been identified. Investigators believe there may be more. If anyone has information about Huynh, they may contact DA Investigator Richard Fong at (408) 792-2983.
