Two women in Nghe An were fined 15 million VND for posting unverified kidnapping news.
Two women who posted information that kidnappings were occurring in Dien Chau district, causing public panic, were fined 15 million VND by Nghe An police.
At 7:30 p.m. on April 7, 2025, Dien Thinh Commune Police discovered that the Facebook account "NH (TAQ)" posted an article reflecting the phenomenon of child kidnapping occurring in Dien Thinh Commune, Dien Chau District with the content: "Kidnapping has appeared in my house, everyone. Be careful if you have children, don't let them play or go alone, they will definitely be kidnapped.”.
At the same time, Facebook account “NT” was discovered to also livestream the incident with similar content. The posts posted by these two Facebook accounts attracted a lot of interactions. In particular, the live stream of account NT received nearly 500 shares and hundreds of comments expressing confusion and curiosity about this information.
From the above information, the Internal Political Security Department of Nghe An Police quickly verified the accounts.post unverified informationAccordingly, it was determined that Ms. NTT (53 years old, owner of the Facebook account "NT") and Ms. NTH (31 years old, owner of the account "NH (TAQ)", both reside in Dien Thinh commune, Dien Chau district, Nghe An province. The Internal Political Security Department coordinated with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, Dien Thinh Commune Police to urgently carry out professional measures to clarify the case. Verification results showed that the kidnapping information was false and baseless.
At the police station, Ms. T. and Ms. H. said: On the evening of April 7, 2025, they saw some people in the neighborhood gathering and discussing the appearance of a strange man with unusual behavior in the area. Although they had not verified the information, both of them used their phones to broadcast live, posting information that a child kidnapper had appeared in the area. During the investigation, Ms. T. and Ms. H. admitted that they did not directly witness the incident but only heard people speculate and suspect.
Based on the illegal acts of these two cases, on April 16, 2025, the Internal Political Security Department, Nghe An Police issued a decision to fine Ms. H. and Ms. T., each 7.5 million VND for providing fabricated information about the child kidnapping case, causing public confusion.
In recent days, information about child kidnappings has been circulating on social networks in several localities across the country, including Nghe An. Nghe An police have investigated and found that the above content is fake with the purpose of "attracting views". Fabricated, unfounded information causes public confusion and disrupts public order and safety. Acts of providing and disseminating false information on social networks are subject to administrative penalties and even criminal prosecution. The police agency recommends that people need to be vigilant and absolutely do not post or share unofficial, unverified information.