Social News 4/6 Firms need to improve meals for workers A buffet meal at the Mong Duong Coal Joint Stock Company under the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group. Many workers in different enterprises do not have access to healthy and nutritious meals. Many workers have not been able to access healthy and nutritious meals at their workplaces, causing massive food poisoning. In the meantime, enterprises have shown little interest in improving the situation. Figures from the Ministry of Health showed that on average, 17 food poisoning incidents occurred in the canteens of industrial and export processing zones annually since 2010, forcing thousands of workers to be hospitalised for treatment. The country is home to 256 industrial and export processing zones, creating jobs for over three million people. In the first quarter of the year, eight food poisonings have been reported. The latest case was on April 21, when more than 300 workers of Minh Hưng-Korea Industrial Park in southern Bình Phước Province were taken to hospital after they fell ill with food poisoning symptoms. Most of the food poisoning happened when enterprises hire an outside business to cook meals for their workers. Up to 70 per cent of the total cases were from poor-quality food supplied by private businesses that prepared meals for workers. Vũ Quang Thọ, director of Việt Nam General Confederation of Labour’s Workers and Trade Union Institute said that few enterprises cared about the quality of workplace meals. Most hired a business to cook meals for their workers and ignored the origin and safety of the food provided. Some even paid money, usually a small amount of VNĐ10,000 (US$0.4) for workers to go and eat lunch elsewhere. In the meantime, many businesses purchased poor-quality and substandard meat and vegetables at low cost to prepare meals. Phan Minh Lý, a worker at Bắc Giang Industrial Zone, where a large-scale food poisoning occurred two months ago and put 60 workers to hospital, said that she, as well as other workers, were so worried about the quality of the food they ate everyday. However, they did not know how to resolve the situation. Lý said many workers tried to leave jobs or go on strike, but it made little difference as enterprises would hire replacement workers. Lý said they really hoped that the enterprises’ trade unions would organise a team to cook meals for them and manage the origin of the food they consume. Trần Ngọc Tú, head of Hà Nội’s Department of Food Safety and Hygiene, said that there was a high risk of food poisoning at industrial zones as the transport of substandard food from other cities and provinces to the capital city remained complicated while enterprises paid little attention and money on workers’ meals. According to experts, it is necessary to improve the awareness of both enterprises and workers to increase the quality of workplace meals. Trade unions need to take responsibility for the preparation of meals for workers and managing the quality of food to ensure its safety. Workers should care about their health, they said. In fact, many enterprises considered increasing the value of meals for workers, but taking that amount from their salaries. Obviously, workers refused this proposal and accepted the lower value meals, which fail to meet good standards. Hardships and machines confront rock miners Nguyễn Thành Công, 54, a labourer in Thoại Sơn District of Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of An Giang, has worked as a rock miner for nearly 30 years to earn a living. He said that he began the trade at 16 years old. “I had to go everywhere looking for a stable job and five years ago, I decided to live here to stabilise my family’s livelihood,” Công told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper. “The work is very hard, from early morning until late afternoon, but my family members and I have to try to get money,” he said. He can earn a few hundred thousand đồng each day if it doesn’t rain, he added. In Cô Tô Commune, hundreds of people are in jobs similar to Công’s. According to Công, he had to spend nearly VNĐ3 million (US$136) to buy tools, including 40 kinds of chisels and two hammers to carry out his work effectively. Nowadays, machines can replace human labour in many sectors and trades, but in a few cases the work still needs to be carried out by hand. The rock miners’ job is done mainly by hand. The rock-mining enterprises do not want their workers to use machines due to their imprecise nature and their demands on the size and shape of the mined rock. It’s hard to save money from this job, just enough to cover my daily expense making me very happy, Công said. “I have to try my best to earn money to support my family,” he said. Most of the rock miners suffer from arthritis, tuberculosis and conditions related to their eyes and ears due to constantly breathing stone dust and the gruelling working conditions, the newspaper reported. Lê Công Thức, 37, said that he began this job when he was just 13 years old because his family was very poor and he did not have money to study. He also went to many mining factories to mine stone at rock mountains. “Over dozens of years working at this job, my family’s property is a temporary house,” Thức said. Another worker, Mai Văn Thuyên, 31, who lives in southern Trà Vinh Province, works as a stone carrier, and reiterated the tough nature of the job. “This work is very hard but I do not have a farm so I have to continue this job,” Thuyên said. Everyday, he works in a group of four carrying stones weighing nearly 220kg to small boats, which are then transported to many provinces in the region. They can earn nearly VNĐ150,000 a day. Nguyễn Văn Tuấn, head of the People’s Committee of Cô Tô Commune said nearly 300 people from many provinces across the country come here to live and work in rock mining enterprises. Despite the hard work, many women also join, Tuấn said. Despite the hard working conditions, illness, disease and a lot of danger, the workers have committed to the work for most of their lives, he said. Crafted in Quảng Nam’ seal to promote products Poor marketing and brand creation, and the lack of a famous brand has seen provincial crafts lagging behind and at a disadvantage in both, domestic and world markets.   These opinion were voiced by local craftsmen and businesses at a conference on the introduction of the Crafted in Quảng Nam seal in collaboration with UNESCO’s Hà Nội Office and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Hội An City recently. The traditional craft industry from 65 villages contributes 30 per cent of the annual provincial industrial production value, but it still faces challenges when approaching regional and world markets. Nguyễn Văn Thông, an official from the provincial department of Industry and Trade said only 34 products out of 100 from 12 production units were recognised with the CraftedQuang Nam seal in 2016. “Craft villages create over 100 hand-made products, but only 20 are recognised with industrial ownerships,” Thông said. “The province, in co-operation with UNESCO and ILO and local businesses, built up a brand of Quảng Nam’s crafts in a programme to develop the trade,” Thông said. The seal would create an invisible value for the provincial villages’ crafts and improve income for craftsmen, according to Thông. Chairman of provincial Crafts Association Nguyễn Văn Tiếp said the seal was an intellectual property of craftsmen in the province. He said it would help businesses strongly confirm the brand of hand-made products of Quảng Nam, while improving the income of local people and quality. Võ Bảy, vice chairman of Quảng Nam’s Co-operative Union, stressed that trademark is still a new concept among craft businesses. “Most businesses have yet to recognise the importance of a brand. They (households) do not care to build their product’s brand under strict regulations and standards,” Bảy said. Nguyễn Thị Huyền, a staff from ILO, said Quảng Nam was seen as the first location in Việt Nam to build a successful brand for a craft product. “It is a crucial step to promote provincial crafts and make it a success. The seal would help tourists recognise Quảng Nam’s crafts among thousands of products from other locals,” Huyền said. Huyền said tourists wish to take home a souvenir from Hội An, Mỹ Sơn Sanctuary or Chàm Island, but they are always confused with a Quảng Nam-made product and those from other locals. She said tourists do not wish to take home souvenirs that they can buy at trading centres in big cities. Trần Thị Thu Thủy, from UNESCO’s Hà Nội Office, said the seal Crafted in Quảng Nam, can be inked together with their own names of Thanh Hà pottery or Kim Bồng Carpentry village. She also warned of strict management and supervision of the Crafted in Quảng Nam seal with regard to quality control of the product. “It needs close control from the association as businesses could stamp the seal on unqualified handicraft products instead.” Huỳnh Nguyển An Bình, whose wood sculpture was recognised with a Crafted in Quảng Nam seal, said Quảng Nam’s handicrafts still need skilful design, pattern or portable creation in attracting tourists, while promoting images of Hội An. Hoàng Tưởng, who is an owner of an aloeswood processing base in Tiên Phước District, said his company earns VNĐ2 billion ($88,000) from export of aromatic bracelets, and sculptures to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, but it is still small in volume and unstable. “The seal would help us promote Made-in-Quảng Nam products with a sealed quality and brand. Customers could distinguish hand-made products from Quảng Nam with products from other locals in Việt Nam or another country,” Tưởng said. Huyền, from ILO, stressed that the introduction of the seal is only the first step in a long-term plan to build a strong and impressive brand name of Quảng Nam’s handicraft industry. She said it needs positive co-operation from businesses and flexible management and co-ordination between provincial departments. Casino touts Vietnamese food fare in France Casino Supermarkets in Lyons, France launched one of its largest and most costly country promotions ever on June 1 with a week-long salute to traditional Vietnamese food fare. Lyons was chosen for the extravaganza because it has the largest Vietnamese population of any city in France, said the Mayor of Lyon’s District 7 in a speech at the launch ceremony. The majority of France’s 400,000 strong Vietnamese population call Lyons home, said the mayor, and the city has had a long-established, broad-based and highly beneficial sister-city relationship with HCM City. Casino Group officials said the supermarket has sold Vietnamese food and foodstuffs for many years. Last year the store carried on average 800 different items at any one time, all of which were imported from Vietnam, they said, with annual sales hitting a modest US$30 million. With the advent of the sweeping EU-Vietnam free trade agreement erasing import tariffs on 99% of all goods traded between the two economies, the Casino Group leaders said they are now looking for sales to really take off. We can’t put an exact finger on it, but we believe the new free trade deal could be worth tens of millions in sales of Vietnamese food products in France alone and that is why we launched this large-scale promotion. Our long term strategy, they said, is too market a full range of Vietnamese food and foodstuffs across the entire spectrum of the EU market. This, one of our largest retail promotion efforts ever, was only made possible by the close cooperation of the Vietnam Embassy in France and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said Casino leaders. Safe vegetable area increased in HCM City The area under safe vegetables in HCM City topped 15,800 hectares last year, 18.9 per cent up from 2011 when a programme to strengthen food security began, according to the city People’s Committee. The output last year shot up by 33.8 per cent to 375,000 tonnes. Under the programme, vegetables are now being grown in districts like Củ Chi, Bình Chánh and Hóc Môn in addition to traditional areas like Thạnh Xuân Ward in District 12. However, the localities have not zoned the new areas for vegetable farming, causing certain difficulties including obtaining Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices (VietGAP) certification. As of last year 763 co-operatives and individuals had been certified for VietGap quality. Under the five-year programme on safe vegetable development at communes that are part of the national new rural area building project, 178 fields with a combined area of 741ha owned by 2,106 households have been cultivated to VietGap standards or using organic methods. The VietGap standards help save VNĐ30 million (US$1,333) per hectare per year on plant protection chemicals and fertilisers. Nguyễn Thị Lệ Thoa, head of the Plant Protection Division’s office for management of food safety under the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said her agency stepped up surprise checks of farms and shops to detect the use or sales of banned chemicals. Speaking at a recent forum on how food safety is being strengthened, she added that the raids had found several farmers violating food safety and hygiene regulations. The People’s Committee report also said that 744 pig-farming households and 10 farms had obtained VietGap certification as of last year, and they supplied 168,000 pigs a year. Safe shrimp cultivation is being undertaken in the two outlying districts of Nhà Bè and Cần Giờ, with 252 establishments farming a total area of 373.6ha and producing 2,988 tonnes a year. The city has signed agreements with five provinces -- Đồng Nai, Bình Dương, Long An, Tiền Giang, and Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu -- for them to monitor safety and hygiene at farms since 70 per cent of fruits and vegetables consumed in the city comes from there. Vietnamese octogenarian fluent in four languages An old beverage vendor has wowed locals with her talent for languages. Nguyen Thi Dinh, a beverage seller and resident of Ho Chi Minh City’s District 4, can communicate fluently in English, French, Chinese, and Khmer at the age of 88. Admiring her multilingual ability, many locals and expats have given her the nickname ‘Co Ba’ as a sign of friendship. Currently, she sells drinks at the Tran Hung Dao-Pham Ngu Lao intersection, next to 23-9 Park in District 1. Dinh said that she was born in Tay Ninh, a southern province bordering Cambodia, and so had many chances to interact with Cambodian people, quickly developing her competence in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia. In 1970, she recalled moving to Cho Lon in Ho Chi Minh City, where Chinese people had settled, and started selling drinks in a coffee shop owned by one of her relatives, attributing this to her ability to also speak Chinese. In her spare time, Dinh did beauty treatments for the wives of the rich, who were English and French, so her command of these languages also quickly improved. Currently, Dinh lives with her husband Nguyen Van Ba on Ton That Thuyet Street in District 4. She is fluent in French and English and has been chatting with foreign customers since she started selling drinks to expats at the Tran Hung Dao-Pham Ngu Lao intersection next to 23-9 Park in June 1975. Dinh has three children and four grandchildren, all fully-grown and successful in their own careers. Nguyen Thi Thao, her oldest granddaughter, is studying for her doctorate. Vietnam world’s second biggest source of spam: Kaspersky There is one field where Vietnam is second only to the US, but it is barely worth celebrating: spreading unwanted emails across the globe. Vietnam replaced Russia as the second-biggest source of spam in the first quarter of 2016, with the US remaining on top of the list, software security firm Kaspersky said in its latest Lab Spam and Phishing Report on May 12. India, Brazil and China completed the top five, which according to the report consists entirely of “large, fast-developing countries with high levels of Internet connection.” In Q1/2016, Kaspersky Lab registered 56.3% of spam in the global email flow, a 2.9% decrease against the same period in 2015, when it accounted for 59.2%. The US covered 12.43% of all spam emails, maintaining its ‘leadership,’ while 10.3% of the unwanted emails came from Vietnam. The respective numbers from India, Brazil and China were 6.19%, 5.48%, and 5.09%. Russia fell from last year’s second place to seventh (4.89%) in Q1 2016. It followed closely behind France (4.90%), which was the world’s sixth biggest source of spam. The report also discovered that spam messages are becoming shorter. In the first quarter, the proportion of emails up to 2 KB or below made up 80% of all spam. According to the report, the first quarter saw the amount of spam containing malicious attachments increase dramatically. The share of malicious attachments in mail reached a peak in March – four times greater than last year’s average. The rapid growth was caused specifically by the popularity of crypto-ransomware, which was either contained in emails or downloaded to computers via a Trojan downloader. “This growth confirms our long-term forecasts on the gradual criminalization of spam that makes it even more dangerous, as well as the reduction in the overall share of email traffic,” Kaspersky commented. The anti-virus company said spam has been taken to “a new level of danger,” thanks to the diversity of languages, social engineering, lots of different types of attachments, and text changing within a single mass mailing. In conclusion, Kaspersky said it is unlikely that the amount of malicious spam will continue to grow so rapidly, because “the more cybercriminals distribute malicious spam, the more people get to know of its dangers and the more careful they become about opening suspicious attachments.” “Therefore, such attacks will gradually fade after a few months,” the company said. “However, there is the risk they may be replaced by other, even more complex attacks.” Vietnam strives to have 96 percent of kids attending preschool Vietnam has set a target of sending 96 percent of toddlers to preschools full-day by 2020 as per the Ministry of Education and Training’s draft of preschool growth for the period 2016-2020. Vietnam strives 30 percent of kids aged 18 month to 36 month to attend preschool (many Vietnamese parents keep their children at homes); 90 percent of kids aged three to five year old to be sent to kindergarten. Most of teachers in preschools or kindergarten were well trained. Moreover, 96 percent of toddlers will be kept in preschools full-day by 2020. Additionally, the education sector will try to reduce the rate of malnourished children and early discover kids with mild autism. In addition, the draft also outlined by 2025 the country will have 55 percent of preschools meeting national standard, the rate of kids in public schools will reache 70 percent and 30 percent left will studying in private facilities. The sector will build more 4,493 school rooms worth over VND4 trillion (US$178,746,983) across the country. Over 1,000 tons of rice offered to Quang Binh's fishermen The central province of Quang Binh People's Committee said yesterday that the committee supported 1,000 tons of rice to the districts, communes, and cities in the province. Before, the committee sent 500 tons of rice to the mentioned above areas to support the families effected by the mass of fish death. Besides, the Department of Agriculture & Rural Development in coordination with Nguyen Van Tuan private company (located in Thai Binh Province) gave steel ship to Bao Ninh of Dong Hoi district's fishermen. This is the second steel ship invested  by Nguyen Huu Sau fisherman with a cost of VND 16billion. The ship has its capacity of over 800CV Of the amount of capital was lent mostly from AgriBank. VND1,456 bil to build shelters for residents: Dong Thap The People’s Committee in the Mekong delta province of Dong Thap has decided to build residential blocks to provide shelters for 11,200 households including 8,800 households in the disaster-affected districts and 2,400 households in border crossings. So far, over 7,713 households have received houses. With the target to stabilize inhabitants in disadvantaged areas and offer employment to reduce the poverty in hopes of having good infrastructure to ensure inhabitants’ lives, the province authority will continue investing VND1,456 billion from 2016 to 2020 to build 29 new residential blocks in the area of 168 hectare offering houses  for 6,120 disadvantaged households. The province administration petitioned the Prime Minister to increase the loan for building houses in new residential blocks up to VND30 million per household to help local residents to have better lives. Over VND 1trillion to build resettlement area in Dist 3 The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has just approved the project to build a resettlement area at Sai Gon Dau May enterprise in District 3 in accordance with BT (build –transfer) method. The project aims to quicken resettlement of the Metro No.2 from Ben Thanh to Tham Luong and adding in the district’s resettlememt fund in. It includes two 25-floor apartments. Besides, it is expected to set up the basement parking lot for the apartment’s residents. The project has total investment capital of VND 1,089 billion and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. HCMC strives to become science and technology hub in Southeast Asian region Ho Chi Minh City Union of Science & Technology Associations yesterday held the 30th anniversary celebration of its establishment. Attending in the celebration were Deputy Standing Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Tat Thanh Cang, unions, scientific and technical associations over the various periods. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Tat Thanh Cang praised results and achievements contributed by the city intelligentsia in recent years. 30 years have been a prerequisite and progress for the HCMC Union of Scientific and Technical Associations to promote potentialities of the intelligentsia, contributing building and developing science and technology sector in the production and trading activities & in effort to strive to become science and technology hub in Southeast Asia region, added Tat Thanh Cang. Danang school named after islands The first school named after the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelagos will be open in Danang City in July. Hoang Sa Secondary School, located at 7 Vu Tong Phan Street in Son Tra District, will mainly serve children of local fishermen from Man Thai and Tho Quang wards who fish around the Paracel archipelagos. Former chairman of Hoang Sa District's People's Committee, Dang Cong Ngu, said: "Our children should know about how the Hoang Sa archipelagos has been illegally occupied by Chinese forces since January 19, 1974. Whatever happens, Hoang Sa is still a district of Danang City." Although Hoang Sa District People's Committee was established in 1982, it has no land or residents. Local authorities are proposing to the government to move the Man Thai and Tho Quang wards in Son Tra District to Hoang Sa District with the establishment of the school. "This work should take long time but we'll start from now," Ngu said. Publisher keen to enrich children’s book market Tre Publishing House hopes to revive the local children’s book market as few authors are dedicated to books for children. Nguyen Minh Nhut, editor-in-chief of Tre Publishing House said since few authors wrote books for children, many publishers preferred to issue foreign children's books. But in order to attract children and parents to an original title, the books must have interesting content, pretty design, be thin enough and not cost a lot. Nhut went on to say that many bookstores were reluctant to put children books on display because they took up more space and did not sell well. Author Le Van Nghia said, "The authors must understand children as well as having enough life experience to make a good book. That's why most authors for children are middle aged or older. Moreover, children’s books don’t deliver high profits like romance or other more commercial genres." In March, the Tre Publishing House started a project to encourage veteran authors write children’s books on specific themes. Previously, authors often completed a whole book on their own before sending the draft to publisher. In this project, the authors will register the themes and co-operate with the editors to create the books. Author Ngoc Nga said this was the first time she had seen such close co-operation with the editors and the process was also smoother. Several books have been published using the new model such as New Fairy Tales by Nguyen Huong or Playing with Yuyu by Kim Hang. The first books have been introduced at the Summer Book Party held on May 29 with other 800 titles, 80% of which were children’s books. The changes are hoped to improve literature for children in Vietnam while modernising the way local authors and publishers work together. UNICEF, Japan to provide relief for children in drought stricken provinces The Government of Japan has decided to provide a US$ 2,500,000 grant in support of UNICEF’s emergency interventions in response to the drought and salt water intrusion with the goal to reduce acute malnutrition and improve the supply and quality of water in most affected areas. According to the press release issued on May 31 by UNICEF Vietnam, the water interventions will target 150,000 people and nutrition activities will target 120,000 pregnant women and 7,000 children. So far, UNICEF has committed US$ 100,000 to kick start the emergency response. The interventions include procuring nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, training commune health workers and supporting communication for development activities. At least 2 million people, including 520,000 children and 1 million women, are currently affected by the acute water shortages and require humanitarian assistance. With drying water wells and ponds, the increasing lack of safe drinking water has impacted children’s health, increasing the incidence of diarrhea and exacerbating the prevalence of malnutrition. In March 2016, the Government of Vietnam declared an emergency with 52 of its 63 provinces suffering from the most severe saline intrusion and drought in more than 60 years linked to the impact of the 2015/16 El Niño phenomenon. The Mekong Delta, South Central and Central Highland regions are the most affect by salt intrusion and water scarcity. Vietnam remains one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. The Government of Vietnam, the United Nations and partners have appealed to the international community to support a US$ 48.5 million emergency plan to respond to the worsening humanitarian situation. Saigon Zoo to exchange animals with local counterparts Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, which celebrated its 150thanniversary last year, is making plans to exchange animals with three other zoos across Vietnam, in an attempt to diversify its collection. The Ho Chi Minh City-based Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden, or Saigon Zoo for short, was established in 1865, and has since been a hallmark of the city, leaving unforgettable childhood imprints on generations of city dwellers. The zoo’s management recently announced its plan to trade parts of its tiger, lutung, and gibbon populations for other animals including ostriches, camels, and zebras from three other zoos across Vietnam. A tourist observes two orangutans kept at Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, June 1, 2016. According to the plan, Saigon Zoo will trade two Bengal tigers, four Indochinese tigers, and three Indochinese lutungs for two white tigers, one zebra, two Alpacas, four Arctic foxes, and five ostriches from Cu Chi Waterpark in Ho Chi Minh City. In its exchange with the Prenn Waterfall Tourist Site in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat, Saigon Zoo will trade two Bengal tiger cubs, two yellow-cheeked gibbons, and one Indian python for two ostriches and five common shelducks. The zoo, located in District 1, will also make deals with Bao Son Group in Hanoi to trade two yellow-cheeked gibbons for two hyenas. Pham Van Tan, director at Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden Single-Member Ltd., said the zoo management is waiting for approval from the municipal People’s Committee before going ahead with the plan. Saigon Zoo is currently home to over 1,000 individuals of 124 different species, including many extremely rare species such as crested argus, doucs, yellow-cheeked gibbons, Indian hog deers, Asian golden cats, and clouded leopards. The zoo also houses over 2,500 trees and over 900 botanical plants. Delving into how foreigners conduct online scams in Vietnam Many foreigners have been coordinating with Vietnamese to conduct online scams through Facebook by convincing their victims to send money in order to receive presents from overseas. Le Tuan Binh, a customs official at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, affirmed that the customs office has received multiple requests from police to clarify information related to the illegal schemes. Typically, the scams begin when the perpetrator befriends naïve targets on social networks, stating that they are accomplished individuals in other countries. After gaining trust and friendship from their victims, the scammer offers to send presents from overseas which could only be handed to the targets if they pay mandatory ‘fees’ to customs officers. A group of suspects, including two Nigerian men and their Vietnamese accomplices, were arrested in May 2016 after conning their victims of VND10 billion (US$445,800). Following several working sessions with competent authorities, Binh asserted that the scams are conducted by foreigners colluding with Vietnamese individuals who take advantage of people’s trust and greed. In a case in point, N.T.V., residing in the northern province of Phu Tho, began exchanging messages with a Facebook user by the name of Coglan Tevlev in July 2015. Four days later, Tevlev said he would give V. several gifts, including a cellphone, gold, and accessories, which would be transported by air. Two days afterwards, a woman named Dung, claiming to be an employee at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, contacted the victim, stating that V. need to wire VND18 million (US$802) to a designated bank account as customs clearance for her presents. After V. caught the bait, Dung continued asking for another VND77 million (US$3,432) due to several 'exceptions' of her gifts, threatening that all the assets shall be put into the national budget if V. did not pay. The scammer succeeded in the second attempt and then contacted V. for the third time, requesting an additional VND120 million (US$5,349). The woman later realized she was conned. The woman unsuccessfully tried to contact both Dung and Tevlev to demand her money back, resulting in V. filing a report with the Phu Tho Department of Police. In another case, N.T.H.Y. from the northern province of Ha Nam, became friends with a man name Kevin Blake on Facebook in 2015. Blake quickly said he had a present for Y. from Alaska. A few days later, a woman with the name Duong Thi Le, informed Y. on the phone that her foreign present had been spotted with an undeclared amount of GBP45,000 (US$64,905). The victim was talked into paying a total amount of VND574 million (US$25,588) and never received her ‘gift’. Cases of similar scams conduced both online and through the phone have been reported, all without the conmen’s identity. According to Binh, the customs office at the Tan Son Nhat airport does not require citizens to pay their customs clearance through emails or phone calls. If the recipient does not receive their packages at the airport, the assets will be stored in the venue’s inventory, the official said. “It was just a ploy conducted by the con artists in order to trick their victims,” he said. VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri