Woman in Nghe An spreads false information about Corona epidemic to sell functional foods

On the morning of February 13, 2020, the Department of Internal Political Security, Nghe An Provincial Police announced that it had issued a decision to fine Nguyen Thi TT (born in 1979), residing in Ben Thuy Ward, Vinh City, Nghe An for posting false information about the Corona epidemic.

Accordingly, on January 28, 2020, Nguyen Thi TT, owner of the Facebook account Thuy Trang, posted an article with the following content:“Corona has arrived at Nghe An Children's Hospital. If you see anyone coughing, stay away and don't come into close contact. Wear a mask. It's really scary. Don't be ignorant and suffer.#GENECEL_Plus is the optimal solution for prevention”.

Officers of the Provincial Police Internal Security Department work with Nguyen Thi TT Photo:Minh Khoi

The Department of Internal Political Security, Provincial Police has verified information at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital and has not detected any cases infected or suspected of being infected with Corona virus being treated here. The content posted by the above Facebook account Thuy Trang is completely untrue.

Up to now, the account owner has removed the post, however, in the context of the Corona epidemic originating from Wuhan (China) spreading and being difficult to control, on the other hand, this is a Facebook with many online business activities, interacting with many people, with up to 1020 other followers, so the post after being posted quickly attracted readers and caused public confusion in the area.

Working at the police station, Nguyen Thi TT confessed all her violations. Nguyen Thi TT is an online seller, so when she learned about the Corona virus infection situation that was receiving attention and follow-up from the public, in addition, because she was gullible and did not verify the information about the incident, she edited the content and posted this false information with the aim of both warning others and selling her functional food products.

For the above behavior, the Department of Internal Political Security, Provincial Police issued a Decision to fine Nguyen Thi TT 12.5 million VND for committing the administrative violation: "Providing false information on the electronic information page" as prescribed in Point a, Clause 3, Article 64 of Decree 174/2013/ND-CP dated November 13, 2013 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the fields of post, telecommunications, information technology and radio frequencies and confiscated the evidence and means of administrative violation, which is a phone.

It is known that up to now, the Provincial Police have summoned and completed files to handle 11 cases of posting false information about the Corona epidemic in Nghe An.