VietNamNet Bridge - Recently, many law violators were detected and arrested thanks to the assistance of the cyber community.

Recently, Le Thi Bich Tram (born 1989), who kidnapped a 1-day-old baby boy at the District 7 Hospital, HCM City was arrested after several days in hiding.

It is reported that this woman surrendered to police when seeing her portrait sketch appearing on the mass media, especially on social networks.

Earlier, many swindlers were arrested after being discovered by the online community. Netizens also traced information, set traps and combined with the authorities to arrest these swindlers.

The police of Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City arrested Doan Manh Quang (born 1989, a native of Lam Dong province) to investigate the fraudulent behavior to appropriate property.

This man registered as a member of online electronic markets such as chomayanh, 5giay.vn ... with the nicknames as cusiu, Pham Tieu Ha, Pham Quang Tieu Ha and Nguyen Ngoc Canh to offer for sale cameras and iPhones imported from the US at low prices. However, after receiving deposit worth 30% of the value of goods, Quang disappeared.

Dozens of people who are his victims denounced this man on VOZ website. Netizens discussed ways to arrest this scammer.

On January 5, 2014, one netizen made an appointment with the scammer at a coffee shop in Go Vap district for a transaction. When Quang showed up, victims arrested this man and gave him to, Binh Thanh District police.

In April 2013, members of VOZ website unmasked a scammer using the nicknames Kenny Zeng and langleyeuem, who also appropriated deposit for purchasing iPhone and iPad from the US. After VOZ members denounced this scammer on online markets, Facebook and provided information and pictures to the investigating agency, this scammer was arrested on October 21, 2013 by Can Tho City Police. The suspect, named Bui Thanh Phong (born 1980, a Can Tho resident) was defined to cheat over 150 people to appropriate more than VND500 million ($25,000).

In early 2010, Tran Duc Thien, a student of a university in Hanoi appropriated VND23 million ($1,200) of customers on the forum HandheldVN. With the collaboration of the HandheldVN masters, from the phone numbers and the IP address Thien used, some netizens found information about this student and provided it to the police. Thien was arrested in February 2010.

Numerous other fraud cases were brought to light police in recent years with the participation of netizens although swindlers used very sophisticated tricks.

The power of information

The warnings of online cheaters on an online forum.

NTBao, an electronic product trader on the Internet, said the spread of information on the internet is extremely fast and it makes powerful effects. Many phishing tricks are quickly denounced by the online. They also work together to hunt down the bad and trap them.

"The online community has helped the police uncover many cases to return justice for the victims," he said.

According to Mr. Nguyen The Dong, head of the e-commerce division of 123mua website, the power of online communities in sharing information, giving warning of phishing tricks is great. "The sharing of information is be very helpful for the authorities," Dong said.

A lot of websites in Vietnam have opened columns where netizens can denounce and give warning of phishing and swindling forms. Mr. Vo Hung, a member of 5giay.vn website said he usually visited these columns to catch the latest tricks of scammers and share it with his friends and relatives. "It is very useful for the community," said Hung.

Mr. Vo Do Thang, Director of the Athena Cyber Security Training Center in HCM City, said that social online networks are developing strongly in Vietnam. Upon detecting fraudulent tricks, netizens should actively give a warning and provide information to the authorities to arrest scammers.

According to a survey on phishing from 2011 to 2013 by Kaspersky Lab, which was published last June, the number of Internet users facing this type of attack increased by 87%, from 19.9 to 37.3 million people in just one year. Vietnam is among the countries with the highest percentage of people under phishing attacks.

Support

An online scammer is arrested by netizens.

Netizens, experts, lawyers ... are in favor of bringing evils to the Internet to help authorities hunt crimes, but they also said that netizens should be careful.

Mr. Nguyen The Dong of 123mua page, said he fully endorsed netizens to post the warning information against scammers because this helps others avoid similar deceptions and help the authorities quickly identify criminals.

"I hope that websites and management agencies to create mechanisms and methods to help netizens quickly give warning information to help prevent the bad more favorably," Dong said.

Mr. Vo Do Thang, from the Athena Cyber Security Training Center, said scams on the Internet are developing and the community should join hands to share information, track and coordinated with the authorities to reveal crime to light.

Mr. Nguyen Minh, a cell phone trader on mobile forums, said the fraudulent practices not only harm consumers but also affect the only business environment, so the online community should take responsibility to force the offenders to pay the price.

"We will do our best to assist our members in coordination with the competent authorities in giving warning and trace crime," a website master said.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, deputy chair of the HCM City Lawyers’ Association, said that the law should encourage citizens to trace, arrest violators of the law to give to the authorities.

"In fact the movement encouraging the people to protect national security has taken effect. A lot of criminals were discovered, arrested and handed over to the authorities," Hau said.

Be careful

However, Mr. Tran The Vinh, a member of VOZ forum, feels anxious because once netizens trace criminals, they may be in danger. "Netizens should be cautious when tracing the bad themselves. They should cooperate with the authorities to be protected and supported when necessary."

Mr. Vo Do Thang said netizens should be careful because if they chased and arrest criminals themselves, they may be referred to the unlawful arrest. In some cases if they chase the wrong people, they may be sued. Therefore, netizens should inform the authorities in advance, and only play the role of enticing the bad for the authorities to arrest.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau said the law encourages individuals and organizations participating in crime prevention and law violations. However, the arrest of others must comply with the law.

"The law does not allow people participating in the arrest of law violators perform acts of beating, harming the health, life and property of the arrested people. Therefore, upon arresting criminals, people need to take the criminal to the nearest police stations and should not beat or take other acts to harm the health, life and property of that person," recommended lawyer Hau.

Lawyer Nguyen Minh Thuan, from the Saigon Vietnam Law Firm, also said that if the ones who fight against crime do not understanding the law, it can lead to unexpected consequences such as arresting the wrong people or arresting the offenders without enough evidence. People should be in close coordination with the authorities, he advised.

Nguoi Lao Dong