Online kidnapping is a new form of cybercrime, continuously discovered by local police in Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho... in recent times.
The victims were mostly young people, who were impersonated by scammers to police, forcing them to stage the kidnapping, then forcing parents to transfer the child's ransom.
Recently, Viet Hung Ward Police in coordination with the Criminal Police Department (Hanoi City Police) promptly prevented an "online kidnapping" case targeting students.
On the afternoon of July 23, X (born in 2007) received a call from a person claiming to be a police officer, saying that he was involved in a money laundering case, then instructed him on how to " suppose a kidnapping" to get money from his family.
On July 14, 2025, Tan Binh Ward Police also coordinated with the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department to successfully rescue the case of a young man H.T (21 years old, in Tan Binh Ward) suspected of being " kidnapped online".
A similar incident occurred with Mr. Dang's family with an 18-year-old daughter (residing in Ninh Binh province) with the amount of money requested to be transferred by 300 million VND.
A female student from Khanh Hoa was also asked by a subject impersonating a police officer to transfer 150 million VND and had to locked herself in a hotel.
On forums, many parents expressed concern about the above-mentioned form of crime: "There is a lot of fraud now, children do not learn from experience, they are really uneasy", "Don't think you are good at technology and then you won't be scammed", "I see that young people are increasingly lacking life skills. When talking about video games, idols or social networks, the answer is not missing anything, and when talking about social evils, it is like the sky falling down even though they are all big...
Many parents have advised that in these cases, they need to stay calm and report to the police if they receive a request for a money transfer. Teaching children life skills, listening to TV with them to read newspapers to grasp social news is also very necessary.
Dr. Vu Thu Huong is an education expert, former lecturer at the Faculty of Primary Education of Hanoi National University of Education, shared with Lao Dong Newspaper: Many young people today do not trust their parents, relatives, and only trust friends or strangers. The reason also comes from the lack of clear rules in the family, parents often make emotional decisions, are easily manipulated or lead by their children. When parents are aware that they are easily deceived and inconsistent, children lose confidence and easily seek external influences.
According to Dr. Vu Thu Huong, the world of the Internet and social networks is becoming more dangerous, needing closer companionship than ever between parents and children. At the same time, it is time for parents to combine, connect and talk with their children more about the current forms of fraud and what the use of electronic devices needs to be safe.
