The Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security successfully dismantled an online football betting ring valued at hundreds of billions of đồng in mid-July. The ring was led by Nguyen Van Binh, 36, from the northern province of Bac Giang. (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Asreliance on information technology becomes ever more pervasive in society,cybercrime has grown rapidly both in quantity and sophistication in Vietnam,experts said.
The Ministry of Public Security has recentlyworked with police departments in 52 provinces and cities to dismantle cases offraud through the use of the internet, telecommunications and banking system toillegally appropriate others’ property.
The trick the criminals deployed was looking forthe accounts of bank customers who did not subscribe to internet bankingservices. The criminals broke into the banks’ websites and then tried to findways to access the accounts and subscribe to internet banking services. Then,pretending to be bank employees, the criminals called the account holdersasking for an OTP (one-time password) to disburse a loan. If the customerprovided the password, the criminals could log into the account and appropriatethe money by transferring it from the customer’s account to one they hadcreated.
An old method but one still deployed by thecriminals was pretending to be employees of lottery companies to cheat people.
Investigators determined that over 560 victimshave been affected by the fraud, with the total damage estimated to reach 43billion VND (1.9 million USD).
As many as 12 suspects have been arrested andmany concerning documents have been seized for investigation.
Illegal gambling on the internet has also becomemore sophisticated in the country over the past few years.
The most typical example was a case involving anonline gambling ring worth 9.8 trillion VND (431.7 million USD), discovered bypolice from the northern province of Phu Tho and the Ministry ofPublic Security.
The provincial police were asked to bring tocourt 92 people, who were facing a total of seven criminal offences, fromorganising gambling activities and purchasing fake invoices to moneylaundering, bribing and abuse of power.
The ringleaders of the onlinegambling case (held via the card game rikvip/tip.club) were identified as PhanSaao Nam, former chairman of VTC Online Telecommunication Company, and Nguyen VanDuong, chairman of CNC, a private high-tech security solutions company in Hanoiand, later, chairman of infrastructure development company UDIC.
Since 2014, nearly 43million accounts were created to join the gambling ring, bringing in revenuesof nearly 10 trillion VND (44 million USD).
Although theorganisation of football betting is strictly prohibited, this kind of crime hasincreased in recent years.
In the 2018 World Cup,internet football betting with transaction value amounting to thousands ofbillions of VND was busted by local police. However, it was not easy toinvestigate as the mastermind of these cases had contact with servers inforeign countries.
Cyber criminals haveoften exploited several tricks including using social network sites toillegally appropriate other people’s property, Kinh te va do thi (Economicand Urban Affairs) newspaper reported.
They created Facebook orZalo accounts and sold household equipment and clothes at an extremely lowprice to lure customers. Once the customers expressed their interest in theproducts, they were asked to transfer the money in advance and the contact wasquickly cut off after money is received.
The criminals might alsohack social network accounts and then send messages to the users’ contact liststo borrow money, asking them to purchase phone cards with big denominations toillegally seize their property.
They could steal information to take money fromATMs and use fake credit cards to buy expensive goods.
Other crimes involved people pretending to bebanking officials and making internet calls to cheat people.
According to a report from the Hanoi PublicSecurity Department, last year about 97 high-tech criminal cases werediscovered by the police, resulting in the arrests of 165 people.
The police solved 33 criminal cases in the firstsix months of this year, a reduction of 17 compared with the same period lastyear.
Data from www.internetworldstats.com -a website dedicated to tracking the number of internet users in countriesaround the world - showed that by mid-2017, Vietnam had 64 millioninternet users, representing 67 percent of the country’s population. With thisnumber, Vietnam has the 12th highest number of internet usersin the world and ranks sixth among 35 countries and territories in Asia.
Some believe that the Law on Cyber Security,which was recently adopted by the National Assembly, and takes effect inJanuary 1, 2019 will be an effective tool to protect the internet community andto assist in the fight against hi-tech cybercrime, while critics at home andabroad say it will stymie the growth of internet use and hamper firms’ onlinemarketing activities.
According to the Ministry of Public Security,once the law is implemented, it will help protect internet users frommalicious information which affects their honour, reputation and dignity andfrom other activities that might affect their legitimate rights and interests.In addition, the risk of the theft of personal information will also bemimimised while acts of gambling and the dissemination of negative culturalproducts will be eliminated.-VNS/VNA
The Ministry of Public Security has recentlyworked with police departments in 52 provinces and cities to dismantle cases offraud through the use of the internet, telecommunications and banking system toillegally appropriate others’ property.
The trick the criminals deployed was looking forthe accounts of bank customers who did not subscribe to internet bankingservices. The criminals broke into the banks’ websites and then tried to findways to access the accounts and subscribe to internet banking services. Then,pretending to be bank employees, the criminals called the account holdersasking for an OTP (one-time password) to disburse a loan. If the customerprovided the password, the criminals could log into the account and appropriatethe money by transferring it from the customer’s account to one they hadcreated.
An old method but one still deployed by thecriminals was pretending to be employees of lottery companies to cheat people.
Investigators determined that over 560 victimshave been affected by the fraud, with the total damage estimated to reach 43billion VND (1.9 million USD).
As many as 12 suspects have been arrested andmany concerning documents have been seized for investigation.
Illegal gambling on the internet has also becomemore sophisticated in the country over the past few years.
The most typical example was a case involving anonline gambling ring worth 9.8 trillion VND (431.7 million USD), discovered bypolice from the northern province of Phu Tho and the Ministry ofPublic Security.
The provincial police were asked to bring tocourt 92 people, who were facing a total of seven criminal offences, fromorganising gambling activities and purchasing fake invoices to moneylaundering, bribing and abuse of power.
The ringleaders of the onlinegambling case (held via the card game rikvip/tip.club) were identified as PhanSaao Nam, former chairman of VTC Online Telecommunication Company, and Nguyen VanDuong, chairman of CNC, a private high-tech security solutions company in Hanoiand, later, chairman of infrastructure development company UDIC.
Since 2014, nearly 43million accounts were created to join the gambling ring, bringing in revenuesof nearly 10 trillion VND (44 million USD).
Although theorganisation of football betting is strictly prohibited, this kind of crime hasincreased in recent years.
In the 2018 World Cup,internet football betting with transaction value amounting to thousands ofbillions of VND was busted by local police. However, it was not easy toinvestigate as the mastermind of these cases had contact with servers inforeign countries.
Cyber criminals haveoften exploited several tricks including using social network sites toillegally appropriate other people’s property, Kinh te va do thi (Economicand Urban Affairs) newspaper reported.
They created Facebook orZalo accounts and sold household equipment and clothes at an extremely lowprice to lure customers. Once the customers expressed their interest in theproducts, they were asked to transfer the money in advance and the contact wasquickly cut off after money is received.
The criminals might alsohack social network accounts and then send messages to the users’ contact liststo borrow money, asking them to purchase phone cards with big denominations toillegally seize their property.
They could steal information to take money fromATMs and use fake credit cards to buy expensive goods.
Other crimes involved people pretending to bebanking officials and making internet calls to cheat people.
According to a report from the Hanoi PublicSecurity Department, last year about 97 high-tech criminal cases werediscovered by the police, resulting in the arrests of 165 people.
The police solved 33 criminal cases in the firstsix months of this year, a reduction of 17 compared with the same period lastyear.
Data from www.internetworldstats.com -a website dedicated to tracking the number of internet users in countriesaround the world - showed that by mid-2017, Vietnam had 64 millioninternet users, representing 67 percent of the country’s population. With thisnumber, Vietnam has the 12th highest number of internet usersin the world and ranks sixth among 35 countries and territories in Asia.
Some believe that the Law on Cyber Security,which was recently adopted by the National Assembly, and takes effect inJanuary 1, 2019 will be an effective tool to protect the internet community andto assist in the fight against hi-tech cybercrime, while critics at home andabroad say it will stymie the growth of internet use and hamper firms’ onlinemarketing activities.
According to the Ministry of Public Security,once the law is implemented, it will help protect internet users frommalicious information which affects their honour, reputation and dignity andfrom other activities that might affect their legitimate rights and interests.In addition, the risk of the theft of personal information will also bemimimised while acts of gambling and the dissemination of negative culturalproducts will be eliminated.-VNS/VNA
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