Property extorted for 'mortgaging' nude photos to borrow money

On June 14, the Criminal Police Team of Lien Chieu District Police, Da Nang City announced that they were detaining Nguyen Duc Anh (born 2002, residing in Trang Minh Ward, Kien An District, Hai Phong) for the act of "humiliate others" and "Extortion of property".

It is known that in early May 2023, a number of groups with many followers on Facebook posted nude photos of a girl with content claiming that the girl specialized in fraud and borrowed money without paying it back. Determining that the incident was serious and violated the honor and dignity of others, the unit reported to the leadership for verification.

From the information collected, the Police identified the person whose photo was posted as Ms. DL (born 2000, Hoa Hiep Bac Ward, Lien Chieu District, Da Nang). Ms. DL said that in mid-April 2023, she posted information about needing to borrow money on a group, then a person using a Zalo account named "Viet Anh" contacted her, agreeing to lend Ms. DL 3 million VND.

A victim who "mortgaged" nude photos and clips to borrow money was ridiculed and humiliated by Nguyen Duc Anh on social media.

The condition for getting the loan is that Ms. DL must take nude photos and videos of herself and send them to the lender. The total principal and interest that Ms. DL must pay is 4.8 million VND and must be paid in installments within 16 days, 300,000 VND per day (equivalent to 100%/month). If the payment is late for one day, the borrower must pay a penalty of 300,000 VND). Because she needed money urgently, Ms. DL agreed to the terms set forth by Zalo Viet Anh account.

However, after Ms. DL sent her personal documents and sensitive photos as requested, the subject only transferred 1.95 million VND to Ms. DL. The subject informed that he had collected a referral fee from the borrower and collected the principal and interest 2 days in advance, totaling 1.05 million VND.

By April 30, Ms. DL had transferred 6 times to the account under the name of Nguyen Duc Anh at the bank with a total amount of 4.95 million VND (including principal, interest and penalty for late payment), and at the same time paid off the loan as agreed. However, the subject then continued to use Ms. DL's nude photos and videos to intimidate her, forcing her to transfer more money to him. The subject threatened to post Ms. DL's nude photos and videos on all social networking sites if she did not comply with the request.

Because the victim did not transfer more money, from the beginning of May 2023, the subject posted the above nude photos in the comment section on Facebook of Ms. DL and her husband. Fearful, the victim forwarded 3.45 million VND to the subject. Not willing to stop there, a few weeks later, the subject continued to threaten, demanding Ms. DL transfer him 3.8 million VND...

Subject Nguyen Duc Anh at Lien Chieu District Police on the morning of June 14.

Thus, in addition to the acts of lending money at high interest rates and humiliating others, the person who lent money to Ms. DL also committed the act of extortion.

After collecting all the documents and evidence on June 14, the Investigation Committee decided to crack the case and arrest the subject who committed the above illegal acts, Nguyen Duc Anh. Through the struggle, the subject admitted all his crimes.

It is known that in addition to Ms. DL, there are many other victims who are young women who need to borrow money and were controlled by Nguyen Duc Anh using their nude photos to extort their property. The Lien Chieu District Police Department requested the victims to contact the District Police Criminal Police Department to provide information and support the investigation.