Resolute on the front of fighting crime

Increasing high-tech crime

Along with the development of social networks, science and technology, many criminals have taken advantage of high technology and social networks, preying on the greed of many people to commit crimes.appropriation of money. There have been many cases of fraud up to billions of dong. In 2020 alone, the police forces of units and localities discovered, prosecuted and investigated 45 cases, 51 defendants for the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property", of which 24 cases and 28 criminals used high technology.

Police patrol to maintain security and order. Photo courtesy of Dang Cuong

One of the cases that caused a stir in public opinion was the case of Tran Cong Anh (born in 2002), residing in Nghia Yen commune, Nghia Dan district, using social networks to defraud and appropriate hundreds of millions of dong. Tran Cong Anh used Facebook to advertise the sale of SH motorbikes without papers at a cheap price. After the victim paid in cash, he did not deliver the motorbike as agreed, but blocked the account and blocked contact to appropriate the money. Before being arrested, Cong Anh had successfully carried out 5 cases, defrauding nearly 100 million dong. Using a similar method, in August 2020, Nghi Loc district police investigated and arrested Tran Thi Ngoc (born in 1997), residing in Sung Phai commune (Lai Chau). The amount of money that Ngoc defrauded and appropriated from the victims was up to 3.5 billion dong.

The leader of the Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police said that currently, criminals are increasingly using new tricks to commit crimes.Cheatgullible people, greedy people, or people with little knowledge of information technology and social networks. They often take over or create fake accounts on social networking sites such as Facebook, Zalo, Viber, etc., then send messages to trick relatives and friends of the account owners into transferring money to the subject. Or impersonate people with authority in the police, the prosecutor's office, the court, customs, airport staff, freight company employees, wealthy businessmen abroad, etc., then threaten, deceive, and ask the victim to transfer money, then appropriate it. They also use the above tricks to trick "running errands", "run the case", defrauding people into doing procedures to travel, study or work abroad, thereby appropriating the victim's property...

The trial of Phan Cong Hai, residing in Nghi Dien commune, Nghi Loc district, for the crime of opposing the Party and the State. Photo: Archive

In addition, criminals also take advantage of social networks to spread propaganda against the Party and the State. Most recently, on December 15, 2020, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Tran Duc Thach (born in 1952), residing in Dien Hai commune (Dien Chau) to 12 years in prison for initiating and establishing the organization "Brotherhood for Democracy", associating with illegal organizations at home and abroad to plot to overthrow the government and sabotage the Party and State of Vietnam.

From January 2020 to present, Nghe An Police have detected 132 cases of violations of legal regulations on security and safety in cyberspace as prescribed inCyber ​​Security LawAccordingly, 31 cases of administrative violations were verified, investigated, clarified, and fined more than VND251 million. In addition, the police agency also warned, deterred, educated, and requested 102 violators to remove false information and post corrections. In particular, 5 cases and 5 subjects were prosecuted and arrested for spreading anti-Party, anti-State, bad, and untrue political content on social networks.

Hard work "fighting" drug cases

Authorities seized 100 kg of drugs left behind by suspects while being chased at the Vietnam-Laos border. Photo courtesy of Hai Thuong

2020 is not only the year of many major cases in the field of using high technology to commit fraud, appropriation of property, and online gambling; but also the year that marked the mark of functional forces such as the police, border guards, customs... in the fight to destroy a series of large drug trafficking rings with quantities of drugs ranging from a few kilograms to dozens, even hundreds of kilograms of drugs. For example, on November 4, 2020, the Department of Crime Prevention and Controldrug, Nghe An Border Guard Command, StationBorder GuardThanh Thuy Border Gate coordinated with Thanh Thuy Border Gate Customs Branch to patrol the border section near Marker 462 to prevent illegal border crossings. Detecting suspicious subjects, the drug traffickers chased them and left behind 4 bags of snake carcasses weighing 100 kg of crystal meth.

Previously, the Drug Crime Investigation Police Department, the Provincial Police coordinated with the Technical Department, Traffic Police Team 1.7 - Traffic Police Department, Police of Anh Son and Tuong Duong districts, Customs Department, Na Ngoi Border Guard Station and other professional departments of the Ministry of Public Security to arrest Ho Sy Nguyen (born in 1968), residing in Hoa Nam, Thach Giam (Tuong Duong) while illegally transporting 50 kg of drugs.

Soldiers of Phuc Son Border Guard Station coordinate a drill to capture criminals. Photo courtesy of Le Quang Dung

According to reports from the authorities, in 2020, in addition to the increase in high-tech crimes, drug crimes with sources of smuggling from Laos into Nghe An are still potentially large and complicated. The forces had to work hard to set up "battlefields", not afraid of hardships, even some comrades sacrificed, to be determined to cut off dangerous drug trafficking and transportation lines; detect and prevent many sophisticated plots and tricks of criminals in many fields...