The Alarming Situation of Personal Data Buying and Selling in Vietnam - How to Prevent It

Personal data leaks and illegal trading have become widespread, systematic, and extremely concerning in Vietnam. Personal data is openly sold on the internet for shockingly low prices, with a few dollars being enough to purchase the information of millions of people. This data primarily consists of names, phone numbers, addresses, emails, and other sensitive information. What's more troubling is that this information is frequently 100% accurate, leaving users vulnerable to online scams.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, over 77.93 million people in Vietnam use the internet, accounting for more than 79% of the population and ranking 12th globally in terms of internet users. However, more than two-thirds of the Vietnamese population had their personal data collected and shared online in various forms and degrees. 

Not only are individual users affected; data from large domestic businesses and organizations is also at risk. 

In the last two years, there have been five criminal cases involving the buying and selling of personal data, with thousands of gigabytes of data containing billions of pieces of personal information exposed. The two most vulnerable groups are:

• Government agencies or businesses with extensive and highly sensitive data.
• The elderly, children, and people with little knowledge of information security.

Personal data leaks and trading have serious consequences, exposing users to identity theft and phone scams. Scammers have devised devious and difficult-to-detect fraud schemes using the user's personal information. The three most common types of fraud caused by personal information leaks are:

Phone scams

Since the end of 2022, there have been numerous cases in which criminals impersonated police officers or bank employees to make phone calls requesting people to transfer money, pay fines, or provide banking information. These fraudsters gained trust and successfully deceived users by collecting and knowing their personal information and using artificial intelligence (AI) technology via video calls. 

In March 2023, dozens of parents in Ho Chi Minh City received fraudulent phone calls from people posing as teachers or doctors, claiming that their children had been involved in accidents and needed emergency funds immediately. It's worth noting that the perpetrators had accurate names and detailed personal information on the victims, which sparked widespread concern in the community.

Shopping channel impersonation

Scammers can target even those who frequently shop online through websites or e-commerce platforms. The perpetrators will use the information gathered to impersonate shopping channels and make phone calls to announce fake prizes. Then they will ask users to transfer money for delivery charges in order to claim the prize, but they will actually seize the money. In some cases, fraudsters may deliver virtual goods to users' addresses and collect money while no actual goods are delivered.

Annoying advertising and marketing

Not all spam advertisements are scams, but the leakage and illegal trading of personal information can jeopardize users' privacy. Every day, Vietnamese users receive numerous calls from unknown numbers advertising and promoting various services and products they have never heard of.

R Digital created the AesirX solution to protect personal data and prevent data breaches. AesirX is an enterprise-supporting tool ecosystem that combines marketing technology with Blockchain Concordium's Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) technology, enhancing data privacy while improving advertising and marketing efficiency. 

AesirX Analytics: Website Analysis Solution

This tool works as an alternative to Google Analytics, ensuring privacy and easy installation on WordPress/Joomla, and it's completely free to use. AesirX Analytics provides detailed information about website performance, including visitor traffic, session data, user behavior, ad effectiveness, and more, all in real-time. 

AesirX Analytics allows you to analyze large amounts of data without jeopardizing user privacy. Unlike Google Analytics, which may be blocked by various browsers and plugins, resulting in data loss.

AesirX WEB3 ID: A Secure Identity Solution

AesirX WEB3 ID benefits both businesses and individuals. It addresses the issue of user data management for businesses, while improving identity control and privacy when sharing data for individuals.

AesirX WEB3 ID provides four levels of data consent to users of websites that use AesirX Analytics. This feature complies with the requirements of Decree 13 on Personal Data Protection and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which require organizations to obtain customer consent before collecting and processing their data. Customers can also withdraw their consent at any time, granting them complete freedom and control over their personal data.

Websites that use AesirX Analytics can comply with the law while also providing a more personalized and effective user experience with the WEB3 ID solution.

Contact us today to try out the Analytics and WEB3 ID tools 

 Sources:

1. 25 years of Internet Vietnam: 70% of population are Internet users
2. Personal data theft rampant, says public security ministry
3. Over 1,300GB of personal data illegally collected and traded