Hanoi police arrested a con man who introduced himself as a Party official to avoid being fined for traffic violations.
A traffic police team spotted the man driving a motorbike without wearing helmet at the intersection of Ton Duc Thang and Nguyen Thai Hoc at around 1:45 p.m.
When he was pulled over, the man introduced himself as Nguyen Thanh Tam, a 32-year-old officer of Hanoi's Cau Giay District Police Department.
When the traffic cops asked Tam to produce papers to prove he was a police officer, he told the cops he was actually a specialist for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam's Organization Commission.
He said that initially, he lied for "secret work" reasons.
He produced a card showing he was an employee of the commission and a number of Lunar New Year greeting cards from high-ranking Party officials.
The police officers discovered the identification card was fake after a quick check.
They took Tam to a police station where he confessed he was actually a sportswear salesman.
He said he scanned a sample of the commission's card he found online and stuck his photo on it to gain "respect" from other people.
Police are still investigating the case.