Two subjects impersonating journalists, extorting property from many businesses in Nghe An

Do Luong District Police said they are detaining two suspects, Hoang Cong Trinh (born in 1986), residing in Ea Toh Commune, and Dang Huu Bieu (born in 1973), residing in Phu Loc Commune, both in Krong Nang District, Dak Lak Province, for the crime of extortion.

Previously, through the work of grasping the situation, Do Luong District Police determined that from October 22 to October 25, 2024, Hoang Cong Trinh and Dang Huu Bieu introduced themselves as journalists of the Business and Green Economy Magazine (located in Hanoi city), regularly traveling by blue truck, license plate 47C-068.71 to companies and enterprises operating in the field of mineral exploitation in the districts of Do Luong, Tan Ky, Anh Son, Thanh Chuong. During the working process, the subjects did not present their press cards but proactively filmed documents about the activities of the companies and enterprises. After that, they compiled news and articles reflecting violations to send back to the companies and enterprises with the purpose of threatening and demanding money to ignore them.

Considering that the subjects' behavior showed signs of extortion, affecting the operations of businesses and causing insecurity and disorder in the area, Do Luong District Police reported and asked for direction from the Provincial Police leaders to focus on verifying, fighting, arresting and handling the subjects.

Under the direct direction of the Provincial Police, the District Police have developed a plan to fight, mobilized forces to divide into many reconnaissance teams to conduct verification, grasp the situation of activities, movements and coordinate with functional agencies to verify the identity and background of the subjects. Thereby, it was determined that Hoang Cong Trinh was a probationary reporter at the Business and Green Economy Magazine (currently, this Magazine has decided to terminate the contract with Hoang Cong Trinh), and Dang Huu Bieu is not a journalist.

After a period of investigation, verification, and collection of documents and evidence, on October 25, 2024, Do Luong District Police caught Hoang Cong Trinh and Dang Huu Bieu red-handed for extortion of property and use of fake documents of agencies and organizations while they were receiving 25 million VND from a business in Do Luong District.

At the scene, the authorities seized 25,000,000 VND, 1 car, 3 mobile phones, 1 camera, 1 video camera, 1 laptop, 2 cards (suspected to be fake journalist cards) and many related documents; at the same time, the 2 subjects were taken to the district police headquarters for questioning.

The investigation determined that around May 2024, the subjects forged press cards to film and take photos at businesses to threaten and blackmail. On October 9, 2024, Hoang Cong Trinh was accepted by the Business and Green Economy Magazine for a 3-month probationary period, so he took advantage of the magazine's letter of introduction to film, take photos, and create "reportages" with Bieu to appropriate the assets of businesses. From September 2024 to present, the subjects have extorted 57.2 million VND and 1 mobile phone worth 21 million VND from 5 businesses in Do Luong, Tan Ky, and Anh Son. In addition, the subjects also extorted hundreds of millions of VND from many other businesses in the Central provinces.

Currently, the Investigation Police Agency of Do Luong District Police is temporarily detaining the suspects to investigate, expand the case, and strictly handle them according to the provisions of law.