Arrest of impersonator of journalist for extortion

On the afternoon of July 12, the Ninh Binh Provincial Police Department announced that it had prosecuted and detained Bui Van Nam for the crime of "Extortion of property".

According to documents from the investigation agency, at around 6:00 a.m. on July 4, the Criminal Police Department of Ninh Binh Province Police received a complaint from Mr. NTV, from Military Hospital 5, in Ninh Binh City, about continuously receiving threatening phone calls from a person claiming to be Le Xuan Thinh, working at Phap Luat Newspaper.

Thinh said that there is a video clip recording Mr. V extorting and collecting money from patients in violation of the law, demanding that Thinh be given 200 million VND or else he will file a complaint with Mr. V's management agencies and post the video clip on social networks to discredit Mr. V and the unit. Mr. V went to the Provincial Police Department's Criminal Police Department to report the incident.

At about 9:30 a.m. on July 4, a working group of the Criminal Police Department caught Bui Van Nam red-handed receiving 32 million VND from Mr. V.

At this time, the police seized 1 letter of apology, 1 commitment paper, both typed under the name of Le Xuan Thinh, sent to Military Hospital 5 and Mr. V; 1 sealed envelope with the sender's name Le Xuan Thinh, residing at Nguyen Chi Thanh, Ba Dinh, Hanoi; 1 phone with the sim number starting with 035... frequently calling Mr. V's number to threaten to give money and 1 express delivery note with the sender's name Le Xuan Thinh and the recipient being the Ninh Binh Province Motor Vehicle Inspection Center.

At the police station, Bui Van Nam confessed that he did not have a stable job. Around the end of June 2019, through accessing the social network Facebook, Nam discovered a video recording the image of Mr. NTV washing medical instruments and receiving money from patients contrary to hospital regulations. On the video was a caption: Doctor of Military Hospital 5 Ninh Binh extorting money from patients.

Nam had the intention of using the above video to threaten and take money from Mr. V, so he copied this video to his phone and backed it up to another memory card.

On July 1, Nam sent a self-drafted open letter with accusations and a memory card containing a video clip copied from social media via express delivery, using the fake sender name Le Xuan Thinh, phone number 035... to the Board of Directors of Military Hospital 5 and Mr. V.

During the phone call, the subject Nam pretended to be Thinh, working at the Law Newspaper, and asked Mr. V to give Nam 200 million VND, while threatening the victim as mentioned above...

During the period from July 1 to July 3, Nam continuously called to discuss and negotiate with Mr. V to give him money. On the evening of July 3, Nam agreed to meet in Ninh Binh City the next morning (July 4) so ​​that Mr. V could give him 35 million VND. During the negotiation process at Ninh Binh Province Gymnasium, Nam agreed to reduce the amount by 3 million VND and was counting the amount of 32 million VND he received from Mr. V when he was caught red-handed by the Criminal Police Department working group.

In addition to the above case, during the arrest of Nam, the Ninh Binh Provincial Police Department also seized a typewritten open letter sent to another agency drafted by Bui Van Nam with the content of controlling and threatening officers who receive money while on duty.

The police agency determined that Nam may have committed crimes against many agencies and individuals in Ninh Binh province. They are continuing to investigate, verify, and expand the case.