Gambling website demands $1 mln from Vietnamese woman
A Ho Chi Minh City woman has been repeatedly asked by www.freelotto.com website to pay a gambling fee of US$1 million after informing her she had won a small prize.
But the police and a lawyer have assured there are no legal grounds to claim such a fee.
N. told Thanh Nien she had entered the website last week which said she had won a prize of $2,000 as the 999,999th customer.
Two hours after filling her personal information, N. received two messages, one informing her she would get a prize of $500 and the other asking her to pay the $1 million.
N. ignored them but a day later she received another letter with the same demand. She replied saying she had made a mistake because of her poor knowledge of English – she had filled in a six-digit number based on which the $1 million claim was made.
When she received a third letter, N. reported to the police last weekend.
The police told her since gambling was banned in Vietnam she need not worry. N. was afraid she would be sent to jail for failing to pay the money.
She works for a garment company for a small salary.
Lawyer Truong Thi Hoa Thanh Nien told Friday that the website could not file suit against N. because Vietnamese laws prohibited all forms of gambling as the police had said.
A Ho Chi Minh City woman has been repeatedly asked by www.freelotto.com website to pay a gambling fee of US$1 million after informing her she had won a small prize.
But the police and a lawyer have assured there are no legal grounds to claim such a fee.
N. told Thanh Nien she had entered the website last week which said she had won a prize of $2,000 as the 999,999th customer.
Two hours after filling her personal information, N. received two messages, one informing her she would get a prize of $500 and the other asking her to pay the $1 million.
N. ignored them but a day later she received another letter with the same demand. She replied saying she had made a mistake because of her poor knowledge of English – she had filled in a six-digit number based on which the $1 million claim was made.
When she received a third letter, N. reported to the police last weekend.
The police told her since gambling was banned in Vietnam she need not worry. N. was afraid she would be sent to jail for failing to pay the money.
She works for a garment company for a small salary.
Lawyer Truong Thi Hoa Thanh Nien told Friday that the website could not file suit against N. because Vietnamese laws prohibited all forms of gambling as the police had said.