Nghe An: 23-year-old woman panics over legal risks after being impersonated as director of a "phantom company".

Suddenly becoming a "director"

In recent days, Tran Thi Quynh Nhu (23 years old) has been constantly worried after unexpectedly discovering that she is representing a company in Nghe An province, even though she had never heard of this business before.

According to Ms. Nhu, on January 14th, when providing...citizen identity cardWhen she went to the local tax authority to get a tax identification number, she was shocked to receive a notification that someone had used her personal information to register as the owner of Minh Tam General Trading and Service Company Limited, located at 19 Doi Quyen Street, Cua Nam Ward (now Thanh Vinh Ward, Nghe An Province).

“I’m really confused. This is the first time I’ve heard of this company, yet I’m listed as the director.” Ms. Nhu spent four years studying at a university in Nghe An, then returned to her hometown in Ha Tinh to work as a teacher in 2024. She has never lent her citizen ID card to anyone to register a company or sign any related documents.

Even more concerning, while working with the tax authorities, Ms. Nhu learned that for a long time, this company had been forging her signature to fulfill its tax obligations. Recently, the business was also found to be engaging in illegal invoice trading and has temporarily ceased operations, further increasing her worries about potential legal risks.

According to our investigation, Minh Tam General Trading and Service Company Limited was established on March 8, 2021, initially located at 43 Pham Dinh Toai Street, Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City (formerly), with Ms. Le Thi Tam (born in 1954) as its representative. The company records clearly show Ms. Tam's citizen identification number.

On April 6, 2023, the company's registration changed; the representative was Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Nhu, and the company's address was also changed to 19 Doi Quyen Street, Cua Nam Ward, now Thanh Vinh Ward (Nghe An Province). According to the registration records, this company operates in multiple sectors.

According to the reporter's observations, the address at 19 Doi Quyen Street, which the company is currently registered as, is just an empty plot of land. Residents living in the area say they have never heard of or seen any activity from this business. Meanwhile, the original registered address at 43 Pham Dinh Toai Street has been a pub for many years. The phone number registered with the tax authorities is also unreachable.

Business registration loopholes

Discussing this issue, lawyer Phan Thi Thuy from the Nghe An Provincial Bar Association suggested that the cause could stem from the leakage of personal information. Victims may have their data stolen, lost documents, or inadvertently provided images of their citizen identification cards when conducting civil transactions.

Furthermore, according to lawyers, the business registration procedure still has many loopholes. The electronic submission of documents, the lack of requirement for copies of personal identification, the absence of mandatory signature verification by the legal representative, or direct verification with the person named on the business registration have created opportunities for individuals to exploit and impersonate others to establish "ghost" companies.

Furthermore, the national population database is updated and digitized across all departments and agencies. Therefore, when submitting a business registration application, applicants only need to enter their citizen identification number, date of issue, place of issue, and date of birth, then cross-reference it with the national population database. If the citizen identification number has been identified at level 2, the system will record that the information matches the national population database. Thus, the company registration application can be submitted without needing a certified copy of the original citizen identification card.

"Furthermore, there are no legal regulations requiring the verification of the legal representative's signature. Therefore, the business registration authority is not obligated to directly verify and work with the company's legal representative during the application review process. Even the person establishing the company can authorize another individual to submit the business registration application without requiring notarization or authentication of the aforementioned authorization document," lawyer Thuy said.

According to lawyer Phan Thi Thuy, individuals whose names are used to register businesses may face numerous risks, such as tax arrears, administrative penalties, impact on travel abroad, credit history, ability to obtain loans, or difficulties in other administrative procedures.

To protect their rights, lawyers advise victims to promptly file a report with the competent police authority (including documents proving the forgery of signatures in the company registration documents). Simultaneously, they should work with the Business Registration Department and contact the tax authorities to verify and revoke the legal status of the impersonated business.

Lawyers also advise citizens to absolutely not lend, rent, or share personal identification documents in any form; not to post images of their citizen identification cards on social media; to carefully control personal signatures, and not to sign on blank paper or documents with unclear purposes. They should regularly check business information to promptly detect if their name is being used illegally. They should use secure authentication and digital signature services when participating in electronic transactions. If documents are lost, individuals must quickly report it to the police, obtain new documents, and monitor any resulting legal transactions.