Shocking discovery: Over 14,000 phones were being tapped in Vietnam.

Phones were monitored for messages, contacts, call recordings, location tracking, video recording, and photography... More seriously, all data was sent to the servers of Viet Hong Company.

This is the result of an inspection by a liên ngành (inter-agency) inspection team including inspectors from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications and the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Department - PC50 (Hanoi Police).

Illustrative image.

Accordingly, a recent inspection by the inspection team at Viet Hong Technology Co., Ltd. (To Vinh Dien Street, Khuong Trung Ward, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi) revealed that the company was selling ptraker software.

This software allows users to view messages, contacts, call recordings, locate the phone, record videos, take photos, and turn 3G/GPRS on and off on the monitored phone.

Users can even remotely control the phone that is being tracked by ptracker by sending a text message to that phone.

More seriously, all the data extracted from the phone with the installed software was sent to Viet Hong Company's server.

Here, company employees can view, delete, and exploit that data content.

Whether customers purchase the software or simply install a trial version of ptracker, their phones will still be taken over.

If a customer pays Viet Hong, the company will provide an account allowing the customer to view and access that data on the server.

According to PC50 - Hanoi Police, over 14,000 accounts have had the ptracker software installed.

Speaking to reporters, Colonel Le Hong Son, head of PC50, said that Viet Hong Company has so far illegally profited nearly 1 billion VND from this criminal activity.

In addition to Viet Hong Company, authorities are continuing to expand their investigation into the activities of many other suspected organizations and individuals.

According to inspectors from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications, a series of actions by Viet Hong Company, such as programming, installing, and distributing the ptracker software to collect private information of phone users and store it on servers, seizing control of digital devices, and compromising the security and confidentiality of phone users' information, violated numerous articles and clauses of the Information Technology Law.

According to Tuoi Tre newspaper