Police officer, telecom staff sell thousands’ personal data

A court in Hanoi sentenced Tran Manh Quan, a former police officer, to six years in prison Wednesday for illegally using citizens’ personal data and forging official documents.

It also handed over prison terms ranging from 20 months of probation to 2.5 years behind bars to seven former staff at Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) on the same charge of illegally using personal information.

Of them, Bui Viet Anh, who used to be deputy head of the group’s cyber security center, received the highest jail term of 2.5 years.

Three people at a private detective firm were given 12-15 months in jail each.

According to the verdict, in 2019, in order to obtain information for a case to serve their client, the three staff at the detective firm searched for ways to buy information about phone number location, call history, IP addresses, and bank account information.

They contacted Anh at VNPT to get such data. Anh was able to provide them with the data of not only VNPT’s Vinaphone subscribers, but also users of other telecommunications networks such as Viettel and MobiFone.

In all, Anh collected data from 1,007 subscribers and sold them to the private detective firm for VND254 million (US$10,726), while Quan forged 142 police documents and sent them to telecommunications company operators.