Ho Chi Minh City police arrested a man Wednesday at a construction company office for domain name blackmailing, the police of District 1’s Ben Nghe Ward said Friday.
Huynh Chi Hieu, 24, was caught red-handed receiving VND30 million (US$1,860) from the Hoa Sen Group, also known as the Lotus Steel Sheet Company (LSSC), at its office on Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1.
In February Hieu used a fake name to call LSSC’s website manager to announce he had the company’s domain name www.tonhoasen.com for sale at $2,500.
He failed to secure a deal as the company already had an official website at another domain name.
Hieu then designed a false company website for LSSC and posted it on the domain name he had bought.
In early May Hieu sought VND50 million ($3,090) from LSSC to stop him from posting false information harmful to LSSC’s business on the website he had created.
LSSC agreed to pay VND30 million but also secretly contacted police.
A graduate of information technology in HCMC, Hieu planned to trade on domain names.
In 2006 he went to PA Vietnam on Su Van Hanh Street to buy enterprise domain names for $10 apiece to try to sell to businesses later on.
The police are continuing their investigation.
Reported by Dam Huy - http://www.thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=38789