Busting a sophisticatedly organized prostitution ring of 300 girls
Police determined that the online prostitution ring led by Hoang Duy Hung had illegally profited about 3 billion VND.
On May 9, Cau Giay District Police (Hanoi) announced that they had prosecuted 15 suspects for the crimes of "Prostitution broker", "Prostitution". The ringleader is Hoang Duy Hung (34 years old, in Son Duong district, Tuyen Quang province).
More than 300 prostitutes involved in the ring
Using professional measures, Cau Giay District Police discovered a large-scale prostitution ring in Hanoi, regularly posting images of prostitutes publicly on a series of websites.
Police determined that in November 2022, Hung rented a server located abroad, paid with virtual currency, cryptocurrency, and set up a website with many different names for the purpose of prostitution brokerage.
On the websites, Hung posted pictures of more than 300 prostitutes along with hotline numbers for customers to contact.
Hung's prostitutes are all carefully selected, have high appearance requirements and are of different levels, mainly staff selected from karaoke bars.
To carry out the brokerage act, Hung used a rented server abroad to create forums to exchange and comment on prostitutes to attract and entice customers.
In addition, Hung used social networks such as Telegram, Facebook, Zalo to recruit prostitutes. Hung also recruited people who specialized in grooming prostitutes to post on the website, with the purpose of being an intermediary, receiving money directly from prostitutes.
When he had customers, Hung sent prostitutes to motels and hotels in Cau Giay district and other provinces and cities such as Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City and Phu Quoc.
Model of prostitution brokerage organization
To operate the prostitution brokerage sites, Hung rented a separate 5-story house in lane 1 Trai Cup, Ba Hien commune, Binh Xuyen district, Vinh Phuc province, to operate.
Hung organized sophisticated activities, only transacting using fake, illegitimate accounts and communicating with his accomplices via the social networking application Telegram. He also set the read-after-delete mode to hide his actions.
In addition, Hung also established two independent groups. Group 1 was operated by three IT staff, specializing in posting articles on websites and participating in commenting on prostitutes on these websites to attract customers.
When posting pictures of prostitutes, this group will attach personal information, service price lists, and create fake accounts of customers to encourage customers to find and "place orders".
Group 2 consists of female prostitutes who take calls from customers via a hotline. This group takes turns on duty, answering calls from customers who want sex. The phones are labeled with the motel address and the prostitute's stage name so that when the customer has a need, the prostitute will be sent to serve them.
Subject Hoang Van Tuc (in Thanh Tri, Hanoi) was assigned by Hung to manage and cooperate with the owners, managers and staff of hotels and motels to let prostitutes stay and "serve customers" there.
On September 28, 2023, the police caught a number of subjects buying and selling sex at the Zedd Hotel (in lane 26 Do Quang, Cau Giay district) and prosecuted Le Thi Ngoc Anh (22 years old) for the crime of "Prostitution".
Following the traces from the above case, on November 27, 2023, Cau Giay District Police and Dong Da District Police raided a prostitution den at Hotel 96 (96 Nguyen Huu Tuoc, Nam Dong Ward), and prosecuted 3 suspects.
On January 9, Cau Giay District Police coordinated with Nam Tu Liem District Police to clarify another prostitution den at Nam Long Hotel (No. 38 Mieu Dam, Me Tri Ward).
Ten days later, the authorities broke up another prostitution den at Sac Mau homestay (No. 30, Lane 89, Le Duc Tho, My Dinh 2 Ward).
Police determined that Hung’s prostitution ring had illegally profited about 3 billion VND. This case is currently in phase 2 of investigation to thoroughly handle the subjects who violated the law.
