A man in central Vietnam who hogged the headlines late last year with his made-up story about a mermaid is in the news again today, as authorities have finally found out which law he had broken.

Pham Dac Hau, based in Quang Nam Province, has been fined VND5 million (US$225) for “providing false information,” pursuant to a government decree on civil offenses in information and communications technology, the province’s Department of Information and Communications said Tuesday.

Hau was the founder of the now-shuttered website quangnamonline.com.vn, where he posted the invented article about a “48kg mermaid” that was caught by Quang Nam fishermen in December.

The false story was even published with an accompanying photo showing what looked like a mermaid entangled in green fishing nets, with the writer claiming that she was then admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment, “pending studies by U.S. scientists.”

The article also quoted one of the fishermen as saying that a Japanese moneybags had asked to pay $1 million to ‘buy’ the legendary aquatic creature, but the offer was rejected.

Weird as it might be, the story was still shared on Facebook by many, who apparently believed that the legendary creature did exist in their country.

On December 23, the 27-year-old was summoned by internal security police, after which he confessed to using photos from a wedding album found online to make up the mermaid story “to create some fun.”

Quang Nam authorities had earlier been confused about naming the offense committed by Hau, and it took more than a fortnight for them to reach the final decision.

Screenshot of the false story at quangnamonline.vn, which is inaccesible now

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