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5 Jul, 2013

Vietnamese Websites fined for granting on-line visas illegally

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Hanoi, 01/07/2013 (Vietnam News Agency) – Information and Communications inspectors have punished websites using the gov.vn domain name for granting visas illegally.

Vietnamvisa.gov.vn had its domain name registered by the People’s Committee of the Dang Xa Commune in Gia Lam district, visavietnam.gov.vn was registered by the Statistics Office of northern Bac Giang Province’s Luc Ngan district and Vietnam-visa.gov.vn was registered by the People’s Committee of Hai Phu Commune in northern Nam Dinh province.

The other website, visatovietnam.gov.vn , was found to have forged registration by the Ministry of Labours, Invalids and Social Affairs’ International Cooperation Department. The first two websites were found to be using the image of the national flag and coat of arms to gain more prestige.

The domain name of the website vietnamvisa.gov.vn was transferred to Cao Van Hieu to manage after it was initially registered under the name of Nguyen Ba Hoang, Vice-Chairman of Dang Xa Commune’s People’s Committee.

Hieu then set up the website and cooperated with the EVIVA tourism company to provide online visa related services. The website has so far granted visas to around 600 people, gaining 200 million VND (9,500 USD).

The domain name of the website visavietnam.gov.vn was registered by Head of the Statistics Office of Luc Ngan district Le Hong Hai. It was then given to Ngo Duy Bien to set up a website specialising in granting visas. It has so far granted visas to between 8,000-9,000 people.

Inspectors of the Ministry of Information and Communications proposed fining Hieu and Bien 30 million VND (1,400 USD) each for using the national flag and coat of arms.

Inspectors also asked authorities of Gia Lam district to punish those who signed and used their seals to register the domain names.

As for Vietnamvisa.gov.vn, Vice Chairman of Nam Dinh province’s Hai Phu Commune People’s Committee Duong Trung Tinh said he was swindled into signing and stamping the website’s registration form. The case is under further investigation.

The domain name of website Visatovietnam.gov.vn was registered by a forged signature of Head of the International Cooperation Department Le Kim Dung. The signature was found to be forged by Hoang Tuan Anh, a member of the department.

The domain name was then taken over by Do Son Ha, the director of Indochina Treks Tourism Company in Thuong Tin, a suburban district of Hanoi. His website has granted visas for 64 people.

Ha was fined more than 16.2 million VND (77 USD) for collecting, handling and using personal information of others via the Internet and for providing false information about services and transaction conditions via an online shopping website.

Inspectors proposed the International Cooperation Department punish Tuan Anh for forging the signature of the department’s head.

The ministry ordered the Vietnam Internet centre to withdraw the above domain names and to check all domain names registered by State organisations and agencies in order to revoke domain names that were not used in line with the functions and duties of registering agencies and organisations.

Under current regulations, organisations and individuals using domain names must take responsibility for the maintenance and management of the domain name and take responsibility for any due to inadequate management of the domain name.-VNA