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The Ministry of Public Security is seeking public input on a draft amended Penal Code that would add several new offenses, including fraud through fake trading platforms, manipulating social media data to profit, disseminating deepfakes, and money laundering involving cryptocurrency.
The ministry says the current Penal Code, Article 291, mainly covers acts related to bank accounts, while in practice many other valuable accounts are used for wrongdoing, such as gaming accounts, social media accounts, and stock accounts. This gap, it argues, creates difficulties for investigators applying the law.
The draft explanatory notes state that for high-tech crime, cybercrime, and financial–securities crime, the elements of existing offenses are outdated and do not specifically address newer behaviors. These include fraud through fake trading platforms, manipulation of social media data to profit, dissemination of deepfakes, and money laundering with electronic or digital assets.
It also notes that some real-world acts do not meet the elements of existing offenses and therefore are often handled through indirect offenses, such as Article 174 on fraud. The ministry says this approach has sparked debate and may leave room for dangerous acts to go unpunished.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, some socially dangerous acts have not yet been defined as crimes, including conduct related to business activities and trading virtual currencies, digital currencies, and digital assets; collecting, using, exploiting, transferring, and processing personal data in violation of law; and programming and using artificial intelligence software to commit crimes.
To address practical bottlenecks, the ministry proposes adding offenses covering:
A summary report cited in the draft indicates that from 2021 to 2025, the country detected and handled 4,334 cases in information technology and telecommunications. This is up 643.4% compared with 2016–2020, making it the fastest-growing crime type in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Public Security also says IT and telecommunications crimes remain complex, citing rising incidents such as fake police pages collecting crime-related information to commit fraud, impersonating authorities to induce people to use online public services, and encouraging people to join investment groups on Forex platforms.
The ministry further notes activities involving compiling and selling personal information to register bank accounts, payment cards, and e-wallets for the purpose of committing offenses.
The article also mentions a proposal to raise fines for some groups of economic crimes. In addition, public input is being sought on reforms to the Penal Code.
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