"Nowadays, renting a house or going on vacation feels unsafe. You never know when you might become a victim," commented user T.H.

"Spy cameras are becoming more sophisticated and better disguised. It's terrifying to think that places once considered safe are now unsafe," wrote user B.Q.

Notable incidents

On July 4, the Can Loc District Police in Ha Tinh province announced the arrest and detention of Nguyen Khac Giang (born in 1987, residing in Nam Hong ward, Hong Linh town, Ha Tinh province) for blackmail.

In September 2023, Giang pretended to rent a room at a guesthouse in Hong Linh town. There, he installed hidden cameras to record sensitive scenes of the guests. He then used a fake Facebook account to contact the victims, threatening to post the footage online or send it to their friends and family unless they paid him. Giang extorted 11 million VND from one victim using this method.

In June, VTV reported on a social media account claiming to "specialize in interview content," which frequently approached women in swimsuits at beaches in Sam Son, Ha Long, and Cat Ba. The interviewer would ask a single question: "Which celebrity would you like to meet the most?" Regardless of the answers, sensitive footage was recorded.

Many women refused the interview and tried to avoid the camera, yet over 700 clips were uploaded, some featuring close-up shots of women in swimsuits without any interview content.

In July 2019, the Tuan Chau ward police in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province, received complaints from a tourist group about inappropriate behavior by a crew member on the Hung Long 66 QN-6096 tour boat. The crew member was accused of secretly filming tourists showering. This sensitive information quickly spread on social media. The Ha Long city authorities then suspended the boat's operations for investigation.

Shocking cases from abroad

In early 2023, a case in Japan caused a significant stir. Karin Saito (50) admitted to leading a network that secretly filmed over 10,000 women bathing in open-air hot springs across Japan for more than 30 years. Sixteen male suspects were arrested for using hidden cameras to record and then organizing viewing parties of the footage. Saito started his voyeuristic activities at the age of 20, visiting at least 100 hot spring locations. He would hide on distant mountains and use cameras with telephoto lenses to capture the images.

In March 2019, four men in South Korea were arrested for secretly filming 1,600 people in hotels and selling the footage on a website. They hid miniature cameras in TVs, hairdryers, and small crevices in hotel rooms, earning 6,200 USD from their activities. This incident is part of a broader issue in South Korea, where over 6,400 cases of illegal filming were reported to police in 2017, up from about 2,400 in 2012.

These incidents highlight the growing concern over privacy and security in places that are expected to be safe. The sophistication and cunning of those who engage in voyeurism pose significant challenges to privacy protection. Efforts to address this issue require vigilance, policy changes, and technological solutions to safeguard personal privacy.

Linh Trang