From 2012 to January 6, 2016, Mai deposited over 8.7bn into her saving account at the National Citizen Bank (NCB). In 2014, receiving advice from Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, head of the bank's transaction office, Mai withdrew the money and deposited it as security for bank guarantee to enjoy an annual interest rate of 13%.

"She assured me that I could withdraw the money anytime I want so I agreed. I trusted the procedures as the bank still regularly sent the statements of the deposit and monthly interest to me," Mai said.

In mid-2016, Mai's family was in need of money so she called Ha, informing that she was going to withdraw all of the money. When Mai came to the bank in January 2017, she was shocked to know that her savings had been withdrawn. The documents have the signature of Ha and stamp of the bank.

"When I deposited the money, Ha was still the head of the transaction office so the National Citizen Bank can't deny the fact that I deposited the funds with them, not to Ha personally. If anyone else was to receive my money on my behalf, they must have signed paper for that. The cameras of the bank can clearly prove whether I had come to withdraw the money," Mai said.

According to NCB, Ha had resigned since September 2016. After the money was transferred from the saving account, Ha hasn't carried out any action to account it in the bank's system. There were no detailed documents and NBC doesn't have guaranteed deposits. That's why from the bank's point of view, this is personal transaction between Ha and Mai.

"The papers given to Mai are made up by Ha, they didn't follow our official forms. In addition, Ha doesn't have authority over the stamp. The stamp holder had to go out for some businesses and asked Ha to look after it. We have documents for that," NCB representative said.

The bank has transferred the case to the police department of currency security and investment. It also denounced Ha for her fraudulent appropriation of customer's property.

However, Mai said the bank must take responsibility. Whether the bank transfers the case to the police or not is the problem between the bank and the employee.