Recently, on the evening of September 12, the Vietnam Fatherland Front publicly posted a list of organizations and individuals supporting people affected by storm No. 3 and floods via bank transfer applications.
This is initially to ensure transparency, helping people to track the support. Currently, the Central Relief Mobilization Committee has also posted a specific list of organizations and individuals who have supported through account numbers from September 1 to September 10, 2024.
However, the posting of this statement list has also revealed that many famous people and groups, although posting receipts on their personal pages with donations of up to several hundred million or even billions of VND, in reality, the amount of donations is only a very small part of that. It may be for the simple purpose of “showing off” or even “stealing” from the group.
Specifically, a content creator named Viet Anh Pi Po shared a screen showing a transfer of 20 million VND to support people affected by storm No. 3 on the morning of September 10. After the Vietnam Fatherland Front released the statement, netizens discovered that the actual amount was 1 million VND. This person then posted an apology.
The page supporting Anh Trai Vuot Ngan Chong Gai was also accused of being a “fake news”
In addition, there are also some individuals representing groups who have transferred quite small amounts of money, only a few thousand or even tens of thousands, causing many people to be suspicious and raise many questions about fraud for personal gain, or accidentally the person transferring the money “missed” due to some mistake.
People who change money transfer bills will be administratively punished or prosecuted.
Talking to us, Dr. Lawyer Dang Van Cuong (Chinh Phap Law Office, Hanoi Bar Association) said that the amount of love for flood victims depends on each person's circumstances and conditions, no one criticizes the amount of charity. However, if using software to edit money transfer receipts to show an increase in the amount of charity, this is not only a violation of social ethics but also a violation of the law.
According to the lawyer, supporting compatriots in distress due to natural disasters is a good tradition of the Vietnamese people. Depending on personal circumstances, the level of contribution of people may vary.
“No one would think that a person who contributes a lot has a bigger heart than someone who contributes a little. How much they contribute depends on each person's conditions and circumstances. No one encourages people to contribute beyond their ability and conditions. A person with a sincere heart would never think that if they contribute a large amount of money to charity, they have a bigger heart than others,” said lawyer Cuong.
Dr. Lawyer Dang Van Cuong
At the same time, the lawyer also emphasized that recently there have been a number of cases of small charitable donations but the receipts were edited according to the money transfer by adding zeros (0) at the end to increase the value of the charity money.
“This is a serious violation of social ethics, causing difficulties for authorities in statistics and distribution, possibly causing mutual suspicion between contributors and recipients of money management, causing bad public opinion, so this behavior is very blameworthy and condemnable.
The act of altering a donor's money transfer receipt is not only a serious violation of social ethics but also a violation of the law. It is an act of falsifying documents and reporting false information.
Depending on the nature and severity of the violation and the consequences, the person who changes the money transfer bill will be subject to administrative sanctions or criminal prosecution,” emphasized lawyer Cuong.
Lawyer Cuong said that if the verification results of the authorities show that the act of editing the charity transfer bill and posting it on social networks causes difficulties for the receiving unit, affects the statistical activities and distribution of charity money, and causes bad public opinion, then the person who makes fake bills and posts false information on cyberspace will be considered for criminal prosecution for the crime of abusing democratic freedoms according to the provisions of Article 331 of the Penal Code.
In case the act of forging a money transfer bill and posting it publicly on social networks has not caused any bad consequences or negatively affected social order and security, the person who provides false information about this charity money transfer will be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Article 101, Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP with a fine of 10-20 million VND for organizations and a fine of 5-10 million VND for individuals.
Fines from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for taking advantage of social networks to commit one of the following acts: Providing or sharing fake information, false information, distorting, slandering, or insulting the reputation of agencies, organizations, or the honor and dignity of individuals…
“It is necessary for the Vietnam Fatherland Front to publicly disclose statements, money transfer account information and details of charity amounts of organizations and individuals, demonstrating transparency and compliance with the provisions of Decree No. 93/2021/ND-CP of the Government on mobilizing, receiving, distributing and using voluntary contributions… Therefore, in addition to calling for charity, the authorities also need to disseminate the provisions of the law on charity activities, directly Decree No. 93/2021/ND-CP. Organizations and individuals who organize charity activities and participate in charity contributions must comply with the law and social ethics,” added lawyer Cuong.
