Handling of subjects redirecting calls to the Ministry of Public Security hotline

On June 2, the Internal Political Security Department of Tien Giang Provincial Police said that it had coordinated with Binh Phu Town Police and Cai Lay District Police to invite Nguyen Minh Tri (born in 1989, residing in Binh Phu Town) to work with him to clarify the act of redirecting calls to the Ministry of Public Security's hotline.

At the meeting, Tri explained the reason for redirecting personal phone calls to the Ministry of Public Security hotline because he was afraid of being terrorized and having his debt collected.

Accordingly, in 2018, Tri and his wife, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich, borrowed 15 million VND from a finance company. Within 24 months, Tri and his wife have paid off the debt for 20 months and are no longer able to pay.

Tri and his wife at work.

During the time they were still in debt, Tri and his wife were constantly receiving calls from strange phone numbers, threatening and intimidating them, forcing them to pay their debts. Because he was so scared, Tri searched for a way to redirect calls from his and his wife's personal phone number to the Ministry of Public Security's hotline.

At the meeting, the police analyzed that this behavior has affected the reception and handling of people's feedback via the hotline; there are signs of administrative violations in the act of collecting and using information of organizations without consent according to the provisions of law, as prescribed in Point e, Clause 3, Article 102, Decree 15/2020/ND-CP of the Government on Regulations on administrative sanctions in the fields of post and telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions.

At the meeting, Tri and his wife admitted that their wrongdoings were due to lack of knowledge, and that they did not intentionally violate the law. The police have filed a case and will continue to investigate to strictly handle the case according to regulations.