SYDNEY – An Australian court has sentenced a Vietnamese woman who swindled more than $450,000 from Vietnamese overseas students in an air ticket scam, to 18 months of home detention.

New South Wales police on Tuesday said the 24-year-old Vietnamese national, under the name of Vi Tran on Facebook, had committed 313 violations.

According to Vietnam’s state-run media Thanh Nien News, My Truc Le, was also ordered to serve 32 hours of community service each month and pay $100,000 compensation for her victims.

Police began investigating Le in early January after receiving reports of her air ticket scam from more than 300 students who transferred money to her account to buy Vietnam Airlines tickets to return home for the past Tet Lunar New Year holidays.

Le had advertised tickets with lower prices than those announced by the airline.

– TiVi Tuan-san