Previously, to gamble online, players had to contact agencies in Vietnam and pay fees to “bosses” – but now it is much simpler.

“You only need to go online to directly make contact with the bankers through e-transaction, dubbed ‘magic wands’ by gamblers,” said former “boss” LTT, who worked as agency for many gambling websites. 

However, LTT suggested a site for Tuoi Tre’s reporter to visit. 

Seeking magic wand 

According to LTT, this site quickly offers “magic wand” or “e banking card”. With this card, players can gamble easily and don’t have to pay commission to agencies. With only one USD, you can bet against the banker. 

Following LTT’s guidance, Tuoi Tre’s reporter opened an account with an ATM card at the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank). Some bankers only accept debit cards from this bank (Visa Debit). 

After getting the card, LTT instructed the reporter to register for the bank’s e-banking service. He hen helped set up an account at the online gambling site. 

To be accepted players have to show a scan of their ID cards, a document proving they can transfer money from their Vietcombank account to a web account and the front of their Vietcombank card. 

Two hours after making a transaction to transfer $50 from the Vietcombank card to the online account, the reporter was informed by email that he was now able to log into the site to gamble. 

With many Vietnamese gamblers, this site has five languages, including Vietnamese.  The website offers various kinds of betting, from football to basketball, badminton, tennis and also stock indexes of the world. 

LTT is the “captain” of Club DLTCL, the name of a group of online betters. This group hired a guest house and an Internet line to gamble. Their account always has over 100 million dong and they earn their living by online betting and commissions from new gamblers. 

Spending a whole night with this group to see how they bet online, a Tuoi Tre’s reporter witnessed them losing nearly 50 million dong. 

Tuoi Tre asked an official of the Vietcombank why banks transfer money to overseas betting accounts, Trinh Thuong Thuc, chief of the credit card service department, said that only if the government bans people from using bank cards for online payment, can the bank can stop transferring money to online accounts.  

He said that whenever its clients use e-banking services, Vietcombank has to pay at client’s request. The payment system works automatically. The bank doesn’t have the right to refuse transactions. 

Another option, E-purse is now offered at almost all banks in Vietnam. From this “purse”, clients can use Visa Debit cards to transfer money to any betting accounts in the world. 

Dinh The Hien, director of the Institute for IT and Application Economics, said that online betting and gambling is very popular but it is impossible to prevent it. To control online betting, e-banking services must be controlled and this will affect people’s banking transaction in general. 

According to AFP, there are around 15,000 sports betting websites, including over 13,000 illegal sites. Their turnover is up to 15 billion euros a year ($23.6 billion). Most of the sites are based in Euro. 

A research by an IT security consulting firm named ISSC recently warned that behind many illegal betting sites are criminal gangs. 

Other tricks 

As the number of online gambling sites rise – so do their victims. 

Besides online casinos for Vietnamese professional gamblers, internet users can take part in online games on many websites – a fact confirmed by online gambler H. 

With just a few clicks, H became a member of one Vietnamese website. This web supplies new members with virtual coins called gold. To get higher level in the game, players have to try to earn 100,000 gold, 1 million gold or even 100 million gold to become a big player. If they lose the free gold, they will have to exchange real money for virtual gold to continue the game. 10 million gold is equivalent to 50,000 Vietnam dong. 

T, an online gambler said that every form of gamble is available on the internet, even popular online games in Vietnam as MU, Sword man, Thien Long Bat Bo, etc. are associated with betting. 

He explained that in online games, players can only gamble with virtual money and can only exchange real money into virtual coins. In FPT’s MU game, players can make football bets.  

In online games, there are two kinds of ratings: rating in terms of level and in terms of wealth, both associated with betting or gamble. 

To serve online gamblers, there are a whole host of service websites attracting visitors with slogans like “How to make much money”, “The most accurate lottery forecast system”, “Football matches that will surely make you win in betting”, etc. 

If one clicks to these slogans, he will see “To know the most accurate prediction of tonight’s lottery result, please send message to 6xxx” or “Secret information from lottery spinning room, type SOI and send to 6xxxx”.  

After sending a text message by phone to this number, one receives the following message: “Thank you for using our service. We don’t have the latest forecast yet. We will send it to you immediately when we get it” while he pays 3,000-5,000 dong in his phone account. 

Victims of online gambles 

T is a member of hoancanh.com, a group of addicted online gamblers. This man and his group opened an account for football betting in central Thanh Hoa province. T owed over 500 million dong (over $30,000) and he had to flee to Saigon. 

In T’s group was K, who was an excellent student of HCM City-based Ton Duc Thang University and V, a former student of the HCM City University of Natural Sciences. At the beginning, both of them just tried online gaming. Gradually, they have become gambling addicts and they quit university to devote more time to the online world. 

To have money for online gambles, K started selling druges – later he became an addict himself. He currently lives at the foot of Saigon Bridge. 

“My parents abandoned me two years ago. I want to give up everything to make a new life but it is so difficult because I’m stopped by debts and drugs,” K said. 

V is no longer a student but he lies to his parents that he is in order to receive money for online gambling. “I’ve asked my parents to give me 10 million dong for my master course,” he said. V said that he had tried to give up online gambling several times but has so far failed. 

Another group of online gamblers – DLTCL club – in District 10 is another example. The group’s leader is an engineer, who had to change jobs several times because of being fired as a result of spending too much time spent playing online games.  

All members of this group lost assets like mobile phones, motorbikes and even houses to online gambling. Some have convictions relating to robbery or burglary. 

In June 2008, a man in Tan Phu district, HCM City committed suicide after failed online sport bet. 

A family in Tan Binh district recently had to ask for police’s protection because a family member lost an online bet worth 200 million. He couldn’t pay the bet and his family were threatened by a gang. 

Recently, two men who were born in 1987 in District 11 jumped into the river because they couldn’t pay for an online bet. 

Senior Lieutenant Vo Duy Thang from the HCM City Police Agency said that online gambling is a hi-tech crime, which develops in big cities like Hanoi, HCM City and Hai Phong. It is very difficult for police to combat it as evidence is also “virtual”.  

However, police have discovered many online gambling gangs. 

Source: VietNamNet/Tuoi Tre 

No one guilty of corruption will escape punishment and no innocent people will be treated unjustly, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Thursday in reference to anticorruption efforts in Vietnam.

Answering questions from the National Assembly about the PCI bribery case, in which local officials have been accused of accepting bribes from Japanese companies, Dung said strict punishments would be issued to those found guilty.

In the case, Huynh Ngoc Si, former head of the East-West Highway and Water Environment project, has already been convicted of abuse of power.

Si and his former deputy Le Qua were arrested in February after a Japanese court convicted three executives from Tokyo-based Pacific Consultants International (PCI) of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, which bans the bribing of foreign government officials.

At the assembly session Thursday, representative Nguyen Van Thuyet asked how the government would deal with similar cases as Vietnamese laws do not regulate the use of evidence provided from abroad.

Dung said authorized agencies could be instructed to add new regulations to Vietnamese laws during investigations of such cases.

Hydropower dams

Answering questions about hydropower dams’ inability to regulate floods, Dung said the government aimed to ensure that dams in the central region regulate floods effectively.

Earlier at the session, several ministers took the floor to answer questions from deputies, including Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen.

Hoang said it was necessary to review hydroelectricity development plans and adjust them if any shortcomings are detected.

He said surveillance over the operation of reservoirs, including those serving irrigation and electricity, should be strengthened.

But Hoang rejected accusations that hydroelectricity projects were to blame for flooding in the central region. “We should not put all the blame on hydropower projects,” he said, explaining that the three hardest-hit flooding districts in central province of Phu Yen were not in areas with hydroelectricity projects.

However, the minister admitted that supervision over hydroelectricity development in some areas had been lax.

“The Ministry of Industry and Trade has monitored only one-third out of the 35 provinces and cities with small- and the medium-sized hydroelectricity projects,” he said

The central region is now home to 335 out of 800 small-and medium sized hydroelectricity nationwide.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen said most projects were implemented with the ministry’s regulations, but he said some had encroached too much on forest land.

He said projects should prove their ability to offset deforestation before gaining state approval.

Lobbying

Answering questions from Thanh Hoa Province assemblyman Le Van Cuong about whether internal lobbying was causing some party officials to win promotions without meriting them, Minister of Home Affairs Tran Van Tuan said most cadre appointments by party committees are sound. “However, it is rumored that a number of people have lobbied influential figures to be appointed to the posts they desire.”

He said it would be necessary to follow appointment procedures set by the Party strictly. “We will intensify guidelines and inspections pertaining to cadre appointments.”

But Tuan said an end to lobbying would require a sea change.

“It would require the whole system to get involved.”

Source: TN – Photo: TT

More than 5,000 young Vietnamese and foreigners took part in the 2009 Terry Fox Run around Thien Quang lake in Hanoi on Nov. 22 to support poor child patients.

The event was part of charitable activities launched by the Canadian Embassy in Vietnam in coordination with the Hanoi Union of Friendship Organisations, the Canada Chamber of Commerce and the Vietnam-Canada Friendship Association. It aims to call on the community to raise funds for poor Vietnamese children suffering from cancer and heart diseases.

According to the organising board, this year’s event collected VND960 million from the participants, as well as businesses, organisations and schools. The money will be sent to Hanoi Heart Hospital, Central Children’s Hospital and the fund for poor child patients.

The Terry Fox Run is annually held in honour of the inspirational Terry Fox, a young Canadian who ran across Canada to raise money for cancer research after his leg was amputated due to bone cancer.

Source: VOV – Photo: thesaigotimes

A gigantic ball bearing the signatures of Vietnamese football fans arrived in the city of Haiphong for a Rock football gala on November 21.

The ‘For Vietnamese’ football programme, which began in the southern province of An Giang in July this year, has travelled two thirds of Vietnam together with the 1.5 tonne big ball to support the U23 National Football team at the 25^th SEA Games.

The programme has collected 700,000 signatures of football fans in Long Xuyen, Gia Lai, Danang, Bien Hoa, Ho Chi Minh city and Hanoi city, who signed the ball or via the website www.traitimbongda.com.

Haiphong city is the seventh leg of the programme’s trans-Vietnam journey aimed at collecting one million signatures in support of the U23 national squad.

The Football rock gala in Haiphong provided a chance for fans to meet with some U23 members such as Long Giang, Cao Cuong and Tan Truong.

Source: VOV

The increasing number of children with school-related diseases has greatly affected their ability to learn as well as their health due to a lack of school healthcare centres and medical workers.

Short-sightedness and scoliosis on the rise

Dr. Nguyen Chi Dung from the Central Institute of Ophthalmology said that the number of short-sighted pupils is rapidly increasing at an alarming rate.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Occupational Health and Environmental Hygiene under the Ministry of Health on more than 5,536 primary and secondary school pupils from four schools in Haiphong, Thai Nguyen, Lai Chau and HCM City, the number of short-sighted primary and secondary school pupils is 5 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

In 2008, a study on 2,280 pupils suffering from defects in the three provinces of Ha Tinh, Hai Phong and Danang showed that the rate of refraction among secondary school pupils was 26.4 percent. Up to 26 percent of pupils in urban areas and 14 percent of pupils in rural areas were prone to such defects mainly caused by excessive learning, the wrong sizes of desks and chairs, wrong sitting position, poor light and intensive use of computers and TVs.

Meanwhile, spinal column disease is rising among pupils. The number of affected pupils in Hanoi in 2004-2005 was 18.9 percent of which boys accounted for 19.6 percent and girls 18.3 percent. If the figure was based on academic levels, primary schools accounted for 17.2 percent, secondary school 22.2 percent and high schools 18.8 percent. In addition, a survey carried out by the Central Institute of Facio-Maxillo-Odontology in 2001 in 14 provinces across 7 regions throughout the country indicated that 84.9 percent of children at 6-8 years old had tooth decay and 71.7 percent of children tooth-related diseases.

The Institutes of Occupational Health and Environmental Protection in Haiphong, Thai Nguyen and HCM City reported that between 25-75 percent of districts failed to meet the requirements for schools and playgrounds. 70 percent of the classrooms were poorly lighted, and 92 percent equipped with improper blackboards, desks and chairs.

Recruitment: a serious problem

Vietnam now has more than 36,000 schools at all levels with nearly 25 million pupils, accounting for about 26 percent of the country’s total population. However, there is a shortage of school medical workers and many of them still lack professional skills.

According to reports by preventive healthcare centres in provinces and cities nationwide, only 5,616 schools have medical workers. Around 37.1 percent of high schools have medical workers, while 24.2 percent of secondary schools have medical workers. Some localities have overcome the shortage of school medical workers by sending medical workers from communal healthcare centres to school to work part-time.

Doctor Nguyen Lan Dung, head of the school healthcare section at the Ho Chi Minh City Department for Education and Training, said that although the city is recording a rapid socio-economic development, it still lacks school medical workers with good professional skills. Only 40 percent of schools in HCM City have medical workers. The HCM City Department for Education and Training is currently working with the Pham Ngoc Thanh University of Medicine to train school medical workers, and hope that in the next 3-4 years the city will have medical workers in all of its schools.

Sharing Mr Dung’s view, Doctor Dang Ngoc Thanh, who is acting director of the school healthcare section under the Thua Thien-Hue Department for Education and Training, also raised concerns about the shortage of school medical workers. Although schools are allowed to employ their own medical workers, it is no easy task. Only 134 out of 570 schools in Thua Thien-Hue now have medical workers, he said.

Dr. Tran Dac Phu, deputy head of the Preventive Healthcare Department under the Ministry of Health, said that thanks to the Prime Minister’s Decree 23, the number of school medical workers has increased remarkably, from 6,620 in 2005 to 15,583 in 2008. Of them, 1,377 medical workers were recruited officially to work at schools (around 8.8 percent), while others work at schools as a part-time job.

Dr Phu also attributed the shortage of school medical workers to low salaries and short-term labour contracts. For instance, schools in HCM City can only recruit medical workers on a nine-month contract, he added.

Source: VOV

More than 350 young people’s delegates have gathered in Hanoi for the Hanoi Youth Union’s Congress for (the 2009-2014 term) on Nov. 22.

Present at the event were former Party General Secretary Le Kha Phieu, former State President Tran Duc Luong, Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi and Secretary of the Central Youth Union Committee Vo Van Thuong. State President Nguyen Minh Triet and former Party General Secretary Do Muoi sent baskets of flower to congratulate the congress.

The participants at the event discussed ways of promoting young people’s movements in the future and elected the union’s new executive board. Nguyen Hong Dan was named the board’s Chairman.

In its last term, the Union successfully launched many movements to encourage young people to boost socio-economic development. It also raised funds to support poor students with outstanding academic abilities and encourage young people to donate blood. Young people in the capital city also took part in many activities to protect the environment.

In particular, members of Hanoi’s Youth Union were also encouraged to study, conduct scientific research and join the country’s workforce. As a result, the number of young people in industrial and processing zones increased rapidly, and 26,670 working in the non-State sector are also members of Hanoi’s Youth Union.

Source: VOV

Ho Chi Minh City has reported at least 10 young measles cases every day this month due to an inadequate supply of shots for the disease, doctors said. 

There were only twelve measles cases recorded in Ho Chi Minh City for all of 2008.

Tran Thi Thuy, deputy head of the Infectious Diseases Department at Children’s Hospital No.2, was quoted Friday as saying that this year’s measles rate was the highest in the past ten years.

There were 42 children being treated for measles at the hospital on Friday evening, two of them being assisted with respirators.

The disease normally occurs from February to April, but the hospital had received many emergency cases this month, said Thuy.

As of Wednesday, the hospital had admitted a total of 1,047 in-patients with measles this year, including 158 cases in the first half of this month alone.

A ten-month-old girl died of measles in the hospital last Thursday, with doctors attributing the death to late hospitalization.

Infections Diseases director Do Chau Viet said most of the children were from the city and half were under one year of age.

Viet said the Pasteur Institute in HCMC was exploring the cause of the “abnormal spread of the disease,” stating the preliminary findings showed that around 70 percent of the measles patients hospitalized were not vaccinated for the disease.

Some mothers at the hospital recalled said there was a shortage of measles vaccines more than a year ago and many babies were not vaccinated.

Children in Vietnam are given their first measles shots when they reach nine months old. They receive more shots at ages 1 and 6.

Viet added that hotter temperatures recently had prompted more children to become infected with other diseases.

This did not bode well for the future, he said, as youngsters who are sick now cannot be inoculated for measles, and would thereby become vulnerable to it in the future.

He said that sick children whose immune systems are busy fighting disease cannot receive the vaccine as the inoculation consists of a small dose of measles, which could fully affect a weak child.

Thuy added that some parents had chosen not to have theirs vaccinated as they were scared by headlines of vaccination-related deaths at children this year and last.

Measles shots are free in Vietnam as part of the National Vaccination Program.

Viet said measles is one of the planet’s most infectious diseases and parents should send their children to hospitals if they register fevers for more than 24 hours.

Parents should let their sick children eat and bathe normally while allowing them to rest in well-ventilated places, he said.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien/Tuoi Tre

In the late afternoon light, the sun is gradually sinking, reflecting off the dark clouds and the surrounding mountains. A few fluorescent lights have been switched on in the stilt houses in Luc Village, Hoa Binh Province.

Bui Thi Hanh, 34, from the village in Lac Son District, is preparing a dinner for her husband and kids and talking about her life before and after the art of traditional weaving become a profitable venture for her family.

Ten years ago, Hanh’s family struggled to make ends meet when their main source of income came from farming a 360sq.m rice paddy and another 1,000sq.m of land for other produce. There certainly was not enough money to send her two children to school.

Ever since the traditional weaving of Lac Son was revived, her family’s life along with the lives of many others in the district were greatly improved, because they were able to get good profits from selling their goods.

“Actually, our Muong ethnic group has been well-known for our weaving for more than 100 years. However, for a long time, we have only woven products for our own families. In the last ten years, this has began to change as we started trading more amongst each other and with visitors to our markets. We consequently gain much profit to improve the daily life of people in our area,” Hanh says.

Everyday, Hanh still works in the fields like most residents in her area. At night, when all of her compulsory tasks are finished, she quietly sits down on a loom to make sophisticated weavings.

“I am a farmer, so I don’t quit my farming works. Weaving is done only when I have leisure time, when everything that can be done for our fields and animals is finished or can not be done due to bad weather.” Hanh readily admits that the traditional weaving brings in more money for her family than farming does. She also confirms that each craftsman may earn at least VND1 million ($55) per month despite the relatively small amount of time spent working on her craft.

Hanh receives extra income, because she is skilled enough to make a special tool used to create patterns on woven products. Sales of this tool bring in an additional $270 per month; this is a huge sum of money for the average farming household.

The lure of extra income is causing more Muong households to start weaving products to sell. Yen Nghiep Commune, home to approximately 1,000 residents, has 300 weaving looms in operation. Luc Village is the most active unit in the commune with 200 looms and has the best reputation in the region for its products.

Like many other ethnic minority groups, the Muong people in Lac Son create beautiful works with bright, cheerful colours and sophisticated patterns. Despite commercialisation, the products still stand out for their distinct patterns, which reflect the exceptional ancient culture of the Muong people.

Symbols, images, and archetypes appearing in many Muong legends are woven into their products. On the two most often traded goods – cap vay (a belt for female’s dresses) and mat pha (a blanket cover), craftswomen express their traditional beliefs with patterns including peacocks, dragon, stag or the chu dong tree (a tree representing wealth).

A cap vay is 2m x 15cm and takes only a few hours to make, while a mat pha is 20m x 40cm and takes about five days.

Hanh and the other women in Lac Son sell the many products they create in their free time in regional markets or sell them to other provinces.

“We receive many orders every time it turns cold. In autumn, winter, and spring, especially when Lunar New Year holidays are coming, our spare time is completely dedicated to weaving, because the demand increases everyday,” Hanh says.

On regional market days, a craftswoman can expect to make between $135-550.

The craftswomen in Lac Son do not have contracts to sell their products, but sell directly to individuals or sell to clients who make bigger orders and then sell to others. There is no guarantee that their products will be bought, so there are concerns about how many products to create and the stability of the market. Muong people have no government support currently to seek out and access markets for their products.

Older craftswomen find it stimulating to pass down their experience to younger generations. “For a fresh learner, it takes one day to learn how to weave. Making co is more difficult, and may take seven working days to become skilled. In Lac Son, there are many 10-12-year-old girls making co without any mistakes. They are our pride and hope for a dazzling future of the traditional career,” Hanh shares.

Men are starting to learn the craft along with their mother, sisters and wives to help out the family economically; when a woman is busy with product orders, husbands step in and take on more of the farming responsibilities.

Traditional weaving has come to be one of the esteemed activities amongst the Muong people in Lac Son. Craftswomen, such as Bui Thi Hanh, have become well-known for their talents. Bui Thi Lan, 46, has been certified as an expert in the teaching of making co by the Vocational Training Centre of the province. Lan goes to every commune to share her knowledge and experience with others. Her endeavour is expected one day to be repaid by the strong growth of the regional handicraft.

In the eyes of Hanh, the return of traditional weaving in her community marks a milestone in her once-poor life. Now, she looks at her little family with a smile of contentment, feeling touched for the happiness that she has helped create with all her efforts.

Source: VietNamNet/VNS

A print shop owner in Hanoi has been detained after his shop was found to have produced around 20 fake university graduation certificates for VND13 million each. 

Police found that customers contacted Bui Duc Thuan via the Internet, paying him VND13 million (US$727) for a university degree certificate and VND12 million for a college or high school certificate, local newswire Vnexpress said Thursday.

Before the print shop was busted this week, police had come across several accounts selling the degrees and certificates on the Internet.

An investigation was launched and Thuan was caught last Friday on Hang Dao Street holding six fake university graduation certificates including those for Hanoi National Economics University, Hanoi University of Polytechnics and Ho Chi Minh City National Economics University, together with notarized copies of academic records.

The 25-year-old told the police that the customers would send him their photos and personal information first and they would set up a meeting, usually for the day after, to hand over the certificates.

Thuan confessed he knows the signatures and stamps of several ministries, departments and ward People’s Committees in Hanoi so he could provide other fake documents demanded by customers, police said.

Hanoi police seized more than 200 stamps with names of colleges and universities in Hanoi, HCMC and other provinces. They have confiscated all the machines used in the business that opened in September.

Thuan said he bought the stamps for VND100 million from a stranger online.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien