VietNamNet Bridge –Hanoi police have dismantled an online prostitution ring and arrested “online pimp” Nguyen Huy Viet, 26, residing in Giang Van Minh Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi.

Nguyen Huy Viet at the police station.

According to the police, with the sophisticated tricks, Viet earned hundreds of million dong (thousands of USD) each month from prostitutes and whoremasters.

This man ran a ring with dozens of prostitutes. Prostitutes who wanted to “advertise” themselves on Viet’s black website had to pay VND3-5 million ($150 - $250) a month each and the account-activating fees of VND3-10 million ($150-$500).

Viet is determined to operate a "black" site based on foreign servers. This site was launched in 2009, originally as the “meeting place” of the young playboys. After a time, the pictures and the phone numbers of prostitutes appeared on the web.

The police faced a lot of difficulties to investigate this case because all communications and transactions were conducted over the Internet and the serve was based overseas.

After more than three months of investigation, the first clues revealed in the afternoon of September 27 when the reconnaissances caught in the act two prostitutes and their clients at a motel in Dong Da District, Hanoi.

Five other girls in the ring were arrested and identified to have connection to the above black web. The morning of September 28, Viet was arrested and the site was immediately inaccessible.

At the police headquarters, Viet admitted himself as the admin of this "black" website from earlier this year. Viet is a bachelor and used to work for a large electronics company in Hanoi.

After a few visits to the site, finding many people wishing to buy sex in Vietnam, Viet contacted with the owner of the web and became the web master in Vietnam. Prostitutes had to pay Viet VND3-5 million a month for posting their pictures and information on the web. Also, they had to pay the VND3-10 million to open an account.

The police determined that Viet directly managed dozens of prostitutes in Hanoi. To avoid being detected by the police, after reading the correct password, whoreplayers will be taken to motels. "Many prostitutes in Viet’s ring hire inns to live and to serve sex their “client”," a police officer said.

Viet collected VND300,000-VND600,000 from prostitutes for each “client” or VND9 million a month in total. Police estimated that Viet earned thousands of USD a month from this ring.

The police also arrested the owner of a motel where harbored dozens of prostitutes in Viet’s ring. This is the place where prostitutes took their nude photos to post on Viet’s website.

Tuyet Nhung