What is blackmail? What crime does blackmail fall into? What are the penalties for this act in Vietnam?

Regarding this matter, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. What is blackmail?

Blackmail is the act of threatening, intimidating, coercing, or using any form, means to disclose sensitive information or harm others if they do not comply with providing money or assets to the extortionist.

Common examples of blackmail include:

- Threatening to send or post videos or clips related to the threatened person on social media platforms or to entities or individuals who have influence over the threatened person.

For example, using hot clips, sensitive images of the threatened person to force that person to do something or hand over money, property...

- Threatening, coercing will use force (may involve weapons or no weapons) to attack the threatened person, causing harm to their health, life, dignity, and honor.

- Threatening, coercing others mentally; if not, they will carry out actions causing damage to property, such as destroying property, accusing of legal violations/ unethical behaviors, disclosing private life information, or revealing work-related information... of the threatened person.

- Threatening to send confidential information, business secrets, or related documents, files of the extortion victim to locations to cause disadvantage or harm to them.

And there are many other extortion methods, not only embezzling money from others but also potentially affecting the health, life, dignity, honor, and reputation of individuals/organizations being extorted.

2. What crime does blackmail fall into? What are the penalties for this act in Vietnam?

Acts of blackmail violate the property rights of individuals protected by law. This behavior can be criminally prosecuted under Article 170 of the Penal Code 2015 on the crime of extortion, specifically:

- Any person who uses violence, threat of violence otherwise intimidates another person to obtain his/her property shall face a penalty of 01 - 05 years' imprisonment.

- This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 03 - 10 years' imprisonment:

+ The offence is committed by an organized group;

+ The offence is committed in a professional manner;

+ The offence is committed against a person under 16, a woman whose pregnancy is known by the offender, an old and weak, sick or defenseless person;

+ The property obtained is assessed at from VND 50,000,000 to under VND 200,000,000;

+ The offence has a negative impact on social safety, order and security;

+ Dangerous recidivism;

- This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 07 - 15 years' imprisonment:

+ The property obtained is assessed at from VND 200,000,000 to under VND 500,000,000;

+ The offender takes advantage of a natural disaster or epidemic to commit the offence.

- This offence committed in any of the following circumstances carries a penalty of 12 - 20 years' imprisonment:

+ The property obtained is assessed at ≥ VND 500,000,000;

+ The offender takes advantage of a war or state of emergency to commit the offence.

- The offender might also be liable to a fine of from VND 10,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 or have all or part of his/her property confiscated.

In this way, individuals who commit blackmail will be convicted of extortion and may be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison. In addition, they may also be subject to an additional fine ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 100,000,000 VND or have a portion or all of their properties confiscated.

3. What should be done in the situation of being blackmailed?

To protect their rights when being blackmailed, the individual needs to remain calm first and handle the situation carefully.

Below are some ways to handle situation of being blackmailed that you can refer to. Depending on each case, the handling process may proceed step-by-step or involve a combination of the following steps:

(1) Remain calm, try to prolong the time to search/verify information, and choose the appropriate handling method

- Depending on each case, prolonging the time can be done in various ways, such as asking for information about videos, images, documents, etc., used as tools, means of blackmail;

- Ask for details about the time, location, account number for receiving money, the recipient, and other relevant information regarding the transfer of money/assets;

- If possible, record the call, take pictures of the conversation with the extortionist. The more evidence you have, the better;

(2) Verify the information provided by the one blackmailing you.

- If the extortionist gives you time to verify the information, you need to verify whether the information provided by this person is accurate or not;

- If they do not allow time for the transfer of money/assets, you need to try to prolong the time while recalling/reviewing that information or requesting to preview the information that the person is threatening or intimidating to confirm its accuracy;

- Once the accuracy of the received information is confirmed, you should consider choosing the most appropriate handling method;

(3) Choose the appropriate method

- Option 1: Report to the nearest police station where you live. When going, bring all relevant documents—papers, recordings, videos, photos, etc.—related to the case to the police. If you have transferred money/assets to the extortionist, keep evidence confirming the transfer of money/assets as a basis for handling.

- Option 2: Contact other State management agencies (e.g., Commune/ Ward People's Committee), citizen reception addresses of the State, legal professional organizations) for support, guidance on how to handle the situation.

- Option 3: Consult with family members, trusted friends, or professionals. However, make sure that the people you ask for advice from have professional knowledge or experience in handling issues related to your case.

Additionally, you can also choose to file a civil lawsuit and claim compensation for damages if individuals committing blackmail cannot be prosecuted as stipulated by criminal law.

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