Duo arrested for running pornographic Telegram channels charging users $16k

Tran Cao Minh and Tran Van Phuc, both 34, were arrested by police of Can Tho's Ninh Kieu District on Wednesday for distributing pornographic materials.

Since 2020, Minh has been using Telegram to create multiple channels and groups, attracting 100,000 users. He uploaded over 7,000 videos and 1,000 images with pornographic content onto the platform, amounting to around 150 GB.

Users can gain access to the content through subscriptions, at either VND100,000 ($4.08) for three months, VND200,000 for seven months or VND300,000 for 12 months. They sent the money to Minh via either bank transfer, Momo or Paypal, an investigation revealed.

Minh hired Phuc to help him with operations and uploading pornographic videos to different groups.

The operation had been tracked and monitored by police since August. Officers eventually searched Minh's apartment and seized multiple documents as evidence. After Minh was arrested, Phuc turned himself in.