Talking to Lao Dong on the afternoon of October 16, Mr. Ho Tran Tuan - General Director of Vietnam Golf Joint Stock Company (VG Corp) gave feedback regarding the incident of the vHandicap application being suspected by the operator of abusing personal information collection.
Immediately after the newspaper's reflection, vHandicap adjusted. The notification section has been removed for now, to avoid users' misunderstanding the mandatory identification authentication (eKYC). vHandicap also records and handles traffic diversion so that customers are not misunderstood, which requires authentication with a citizen identification card" - Mr. Ho Tran Tuan said.
During the discussion, VG Corp representatives repeatedly emphasized the need for identity authentication (eKYC) by taking a photo of their current citizen identification card with the main purpose of providing handicap certificates from the Vietnam Golf Association.
VG Corp and the Vietnam Golf Association also confirmed that they are currently looking for another method. The unit will make an adjustment plan on the software to comply with Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP and move towards the Law on Personal Data Protection" - Mr. Ho Tran Tuan said.
Notably, according to VG Corp's leader, the number of vHandicap users is currently about 140,000, of which the number of people who have implemented eKYC is about more than 11%.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper published an article reflecting the suspicion of vHandicap - a social network application for golfers - being abused in collecting information when requesting verification by taking a photo of a citizen identification card.
The vHandicap application system was launched by the Vietnam Golf Association (VGA), allowing golfers to calculate their handicap (admission point) through the results of each match. According to the Vietnam Golf Association, this is a technology product of the Association and its partner, Vietnam Golf Joint Stock Company (VG Corp) since 2017.
The identification authentication procedure (eKYC) on this application is being questioned. During the authentication process, users need to take a photo of their citizen identification card with the following notes: "Clear, complete details, no lost angles and no blurred, glowing. The owner's documents are still valid. These are original photos that have not been scan and photocopy.
The problem is that vHandicap was granted a license to establish a social network on network No. 03/GP-BTTTT issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications (now the Ministry of Science and Technology) on January 6, 2025. The vHandicap mobile application also has the features of a social network such as posting, making friends, expressing emotions.
Meanwhile, according to Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP on management, provision and use of Internet services and information on the network, people only have to be required to authenticate social network accounts using their own mobile phone number in Vietnam.
