What penalty does the sender of the ‘wanted warrant’ message face?

Recently, VietNamNet reflected on the status of phone users receiving a message with the content “wanted warrant”. At the same time, the content of the message also requires the recipient of the message to voluntarily present. When receiving messages with similar content above, many people are confused because they are not equipped with the necessary legal knowledge; creating loopholes for criminals to commit fraud.

Regarding the above content, in response to PV VietNamNet, a representative of the Ministry of Public Security confirmed that the police agency did not send a wanted warrant by phone message. Messages with similar content are fake, people need to be careful not to be taken advantage of by crooks to scam.

On March 15, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Hai said that recently, many people were confused when they received a message with the content of a wanted warrant, asking to voluntarily present themselves and if not, they will be transferred. assigned to a debt collection company to hire, be traced and handled.

“If you are not vigilant, fraudsters will have the opportunity to commit crimes and the person who suffers the damage, is none other than the people,” said lawyer Hai.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Hai

According to Mr. Hai, fraudulent and forged tricks to appropriate such property affect the reputation of state agencies, cause information disturbance, and adversely affect the situation of security and social order.

Lawyer Hai informed that, when these violations are discovered and investigated, they can be considered and handled strictly in accordance with the law.

Specifically, this is the first act of impersonating an investigative agency or another competent authority for the purpose of appropriating property. For this act, depending on the amount of money that these objects appropriate from the victim, if not enough to constitute a crime, they will be administratively handled.

“According to point c, clause 1, point b, clause 2, article 15 of Decree 144/2021/ND-CP: A fine of between 2 and 3 million dong for acts of using deceitful tricks to appropriate property; a fine from 3 – 5 million dong for acts of using tricks or creating circumstances to force others to give money and property,” Mr. Hai cited.

In addition, according to Mr. Hai, if there are enough elements to constitute the crime, the person who pretends to be an investigation agency or other competent agency for the purpose of appropriating property may be examined for penal liability. with the crime of fraudulent appropriation of property specified in Article 174 of the Penal Code. The maximum penalty for this crime is up to life in prison.

Specifically, committing the crime in one of the following circumstances, the offenders shall be sentenced to between 12 and 20 years of imprisonment or life imprisonment: Appropriating property worth 500 million VND or more. In addition, the offenders may also be subject to a fine of from 10 to 100 million dong, a ban from holding certain posts, practicing certain occupations or doing certain jobs for 1 to 5 years, or having part or all of their property confiscated.

Responsibilities of the network operator

When referring to the responsibilities of network operators, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Hai said that Clause 2, Article 26 of the Law on Cybersecurity stipulates that domestic and foreign enterprises provide services on telecommunications networks, the Internet, and the Internet. Value-added services in cyberspace in Vietnam are responsible for verifying information when users register for a digital account.

In addition, network operators have the duty to prevent information sharing, delete information with contents specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Article 16 of this Law on services or systems. information system directly managed by agencies or organizations within 24 hours from the time of request of competent authorities.In addition, network operators must keep system logs to serve investigation. , handle violations of the law on network security within the time prescribed by the Government,” said Mr. Hai.

A text message with the content “wanted warrant”

Lawyer Hai added that, also in Article 9 of the Law on Cybersecurity, anyone who violates the provisions of this Law, depending on the nature and seriousness of the violation, will be disciplined, handled for violations. administrative violations or being examined for penal liability, if causing damage, they must compensate in accordance with law.

“Currently, with the violations of the above subjects, if the contract is made between telecommunications businesses and they strictly comply with the law on telecommunications service provision, it is very difficult for the network operator to “manage”. Only when there is a competent authority to conduct an investigation and ask telecommunications businesses to cooperate to investigate, this is the time to be responsible. of the network operators is really clear,” said Mr. Hai.

Notably, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Hai said, there is another common situation that can happen that these fake messages do not come from the systems of telecommunications businesses, but are distributed through the Internet. fake mobile transmitters.

Doan Bong