On July 24, the Coast Guard of Kien Giang Province received a petition from a woman from Ninh Thuan Province whose son was among the victims.
According to the petition, her son named Do Cong Viet Anh, 18, was introduced to work for a fishing boat with the monthly salary of VND12 million (USD545.45) by a person named Chin.
The scarcity of those willing to go on fishing boats has been on the rise
However, while working there, Viet was not paid and his salary was appropriated by Chin. Viet was even beaten and was banned from returning to the mainland.
The Coast Guard of Kien Giang Province has also got the similar petitions from some households in Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Ca Mau and Dong Nai provinces, saying that their relatives were cheated like Viet.
After that, on July 27, authorities detained the fishing boat with 12 people on board said to be cheated.
Six among those said that they were introduced by some motorbikes drivers in HCM City to work on the fishing boat, while others knew the recruitment information through advertisements on Facebook and leaflets on streets.
At present, two people named Huynh Thanh Vu, 36, and Tran Minh Trung, 42, are both from Kien Giang Province have been detained for the investigation.
According to Kien Giang authorities, Vu and Trung would belong to a large-scale ring of trading crews for fishing boats. They also said that the scarcity of those willing to go on fishing boats has been on the rise, meant more become would become the victims of these rings.