Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son warns about scams about doing 'easy work with high salary' abroad

On the afternoon of March 18, continuing the working program, the National Assembly Standing Committee organized a question-and-answer session on diplomacy at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House and connected online to 62 points of connection in provinces and centrally-run cities (Hanoi National Assembly Delegation attended the meeting directly).

At the Nghe An provincial bridge, comrade Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation chaired the session. Attending the question and answer session were comrades: Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Nguyen Nhu Khoi - Member of the Provincial Party Committee Executive Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; comrades in the Provincial People's Council Standing Committee; National Assembly deputies working in the province and a number of related departments and branches.

At the question and answer session, delegate Dinh Thi Ngoc Dung - National Assembly Delegation of Hai Duong province said that currently there is a situation where Vietnamese people, mainly young people, go to work abroad but work in fraudulent casinos and prostitution establishments and asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs to provide solutions to detect and support people.

Responding to the question, Minister Bui Thanh Son said that this is a situation that has been occurring mainly since 2020 and is a complicated issue. The Ministry has coordinated with many agencies and units to rescue and bring many people back to the country.

Referring to the solution, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that he will continue to coordinate with ministries and branches to strengthen propaganda, warn people, and support the provision of information so that authorities can strictly handle networks that illegally send people abroad to work.

In addition, it is necessary to proactively cooperate with countries in the region to find common solutions in combating and preventing this type of crime, promoting the process of labor cooperation, organized legal migration, and preventing illegal migration.

At the same time, continue to carry out citizen protection work, support repatriation, and closely cooperate with host countries to rescue citizens who are victims of human trafficking and forced labor.

Previously, responding to the opinion of National Assembly deputies also related to this content, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son warned about the situation of fraud in doing "easy work with high salary" abroad.

“Easy work, high salary” does not exist, there is only doing illegal work; we should try to propagate more to our children and grandchildren,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs warned.

In a report sent to National Assembly deputies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: From 2022, international travel activities as well as Vietnamese citizens going abroad have fully recovered, the need for people to work, study and travel has increased rapidly.

Statistics show that in 2022, more than 3.8 million Vietnamese citizens went abroad and by 2023, this number had reached more than 10 million.

The increasing number of Vietnamese citizens going abroad for various purposes shows the increasingly deep level of international integration of Vietnam, creating many opportunities but also giving rise to complex issues and challenges for consular work and protection of Vietnamese citizens abroad.

Regarding the work of protecting citizens who were defrauded and forced to work in countries in the Southeast Asian region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: In 2022, Vietnamese representative agencies in Cambodia coordinated with local authorities to directly participate in many rescues of Vietnamese citizens from illegal detention facilities; coordinated with domestic authorities to receive nearly 1,400 citizens.

In 2023, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinated with local authorities in Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar to rescue, protect, and support the repatriation of about 1,500 citizens, including typical cases in the Philippines and Cambodia.

The issue of our citizens being tricked into working and forced into labor is extremely complicated for many reasons, such as the policies of countries allowing the opening of casinos and online gambling establishments, mainly online fraud, the ease of illegal border crossing between countries, the lack of jobs, and the gullibility of our citizens, especially young people in remote areas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported to the Prime Minister many times, recommending preventive and handling solutions.

On that basis, the Government has directed relevant ministries, branches and localities to deploy many solutions, including proactively grasping the situation of citizens working illegally and being forced to work in other countries, and coordinating with local authorities to rescue and protect citizens.

Propaganda and raising people's awareness against tricks of luring, enticing, and defrauding people into working illegally abroad.

Combat and strictly handle violations; strengthen management of citizens' entry and exit activities.

Strengthen cooperation with countries in the region in the field of preventing and combating human trafficking and illegal migration.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also regularly coordinates with news agencies and newspapers to strengthen communication work and warn in many forms about the situation of fraud in doing “easy work with high salary”.

Also at the working session, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son answered questions from delegates on the contents surrounding economic diplomacy; results of the implementation of the Cultural Diplomacy Strategy; solutions to strengthen the connection of the global knowledge network of Vietnamese people; the current situation and solutions to overcome institutional obstacles in economics, trade, and investment; solutions to help localities be proactive in foreign affairs and international integration;...