“N”, 28, has been well-known among securities investors in Hanoi. He finished the Hanoi National Economics University in 2006, when Vietnamese people tried to familiarize themselves with the stock market and began pouring money into stock investment deals.

N, who had good economics knowledge and capital, also injected money in stocks and made fat profits. N’s relatives, who were proud of the nephew with bachelor degree, came to meet N and said they wanted to follow N to make securities investments.

N and the relatives had a prosperous year in 2007, when the stock prices increased continuously, which brought them fat profits. All the relatives and friends, who joined forces with N in investment, could earn big money. The lucrative investments prompted them to inject more money in securities.

The securities investors continued pouring money into investment deals even when there were signs of stock price falls, because they had confidence in N, who has university knowledge and good investment experiences.

However, as the stock prices have been decreasing continuously, by April 2011, N had lost all the money he had invested in securities, estimated at 10 billion dong. Besides, the house worth 7 billion dong of the brother has also vanished into the air. Those, who used their assets to make investment in securities, have lost all their money. Meanwhile, the people, who make investment with borrowed money, have become over head and ears in debt.

N, due to the hard pressure from relatives, who criticized him for wrong investment decisions, has become hysterical. Two weeks ago, he was brought to the National Mental Health Institute of the Bach Mai Hospital.

Nguyen Van Dung, the doctor who treated N, said that N fell into a state of extreme stress, loss of behavioral control since he was put under a too hard pressure during a short time. After nine days of hospitalization, N has become better and N’s parents decided that their son needed to leave the hospitals, ignoring the advices of doctors that he needed further treatment.

N’s parents said that they would bring N to a fortuneteller who can help relieve him from a run of bad luck

The interesting thing, according to Doctor Dung, is that when N was hospitalized, hundreds of people visited N every day.

“The visitors all were N’s neighbors. They came to see if N can recover. They wished N could be better, so that he can help save their money,” Dung said.

“Meanwhile, the creditors came to demand N to pay debts”.

Another “big guy” among securities investors in Hanoi, “H”, 38, reportedly attempted to commit suicide twice because of the losses in securities investments.

The woman used all the money she has and the money she borrowed from relatives and banks to invest in securities. Especially, H mortgaged the house of her mother to get loans for securities investment deals.

As the stock prices have been falling, investors flee, H has lost tens of billion dong and the mortgaged houses. As a result, H had to rent a room to live.

Having lost too much money, while facing the violent criticism from relatives, H attempted to commit suicide one month ago, but she failed. Just one week later, she wrote a suicide note and made a suicide attempt for the second time by jumping to the river from Chuong Duong bridge. Luckily, she was saved by the family’s members and was brought to the hospital.

After half a month of treatment, H has recovered. However, Doctor Dung said that it will take H more time to fully recover and to regain balance in life.

H is lucky because she still can keep her life. Meanwhile, another securities investor “successfully” committed suicide because of the big loss in securities investment.

Before the woman committed suicide, she was brought to hospital for consultancy and treatment. The woman was a merchant at Hom Market, who once had many houses and cafes. She began injecting money in securities three years ago. As all of her assets have gone, she fell into a panic.

“Her illness was controlled, but then recurred when she was at home,” Dung said.

“I was told that she drove a scooter to Duong Bridge, left the scooter and jumped into the river. 90 million dong in cash and a suicide note were found,” he added.

Minh Hang