National Assembly Office requests verification of extortion case against many officials

On the afternoon of October 18, Secretary General of the National Assembly Nguyen Hanh Phuc said that this morning he had received two reports from leaders of local delegation offices about being blackmailed by text messages.

Yesterday, Mr. Phuc only learned about the information through press reports, but he asked the Department of Personnel Organization to discuss with the offices to verify the incident. That same afternoon, he sent a document requesting the police to verify the information.

According to the Secretary General of the National Assembly, many people, even after several years of retirement, have received threatening messages. "Some delegates even said that they have received such threatening messages since the National Assembly passed the Cybersecurity Law," said Mr. Phuc.

Former chief of staff of the National Assembly delegation of Thua Thien Hue province, Duong The Hung, reported that a text message was sent to him on the evening of October 15 with the following content: "Someone wants to kill you for 100 million VND. If you give me 100 million VND, I will send you the identity of the person who wants to harm you and the evidence. I will give you 3 days and leave this account number for you to transfer money to. If you transfer the money, I will leave this country and keep my promise." The sender attached the account number opened at a bank headquartered in the South.

Mr. Le Nho Tuan (Deputy Chief of Office of the Quang Nam National Assembly Delegation) confirmed that at 8:49 p.m. on October 15, he received a text message with the same content as above. Mr. Nho Tuan tried calling this phone number but could not get through. On the morning of October 16, he went to the Criminal Police Department of Quang Nam Provincial Police to report and ask for help.

On the evening of October 15, Mr. Nguyen Truong Son (Chief of Office of the Hanoi City National Assembly Delegation), Mr. Pham Minh Tuan (Acting Chief of Office of the Bac Giang Province National Assembly Delegation), Mr. Hoang Duc Cuong (Chief of Office of the Quang Tri Province National Assembly Delegation), Mr. Pham Nghia (Deputy Chief of Office of the Ha Tinh Province National Assembly Delegation)... also received text messages from the same phone number, content and account number requesting to send 100 million VND. With each message, the perpetrator clearly stated the name of the recipient.

Colonel Hoang Long (Chief of Hue City Police) said that the unit initially determined that the anonymous person's phone number was a "junk SIM" in the Ho Chi Minh City area and was not registered to the user. The unit is investigating the perpetrator based on the bank account number left in the message.