Warning of new scam taking advantage of province-city mergers

sáp nhập - Ảnh 1. — Customer service staff working at Southern Power Corporation - Photo: DINH HOANG

On the evening of June 29, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) said that recently, there has been a phenomenon of some bad guys taking advantage of information about local mergers and administrative boundary adjustments to commit fraud, impersonating electricity employees to ask customers to provide personal information in order to defraud and appropriate customers' assets.

According to EVN, a common scam is for subjects to impersonate electricity employees, call customers with content related to the electricity company implementing a unit merger, and ask customers to access a link provided by the subject to update electricity payment information at the new address after the electricity company implements the unit merger.

According to an EVN official, impersonating electricity officials to commit fraud is not new, but being involved in merger activities creates a new element, causing many people to not be on guard and possibly fall into the scammers' trap.

In addition, according to EVN, bad guys also ask people to provide personal information, text messages, install strange applications, and make online calls with images through applications ( video calls) for easy instructions.

EVN said the purpose was to steal personal information and bank accounts, then appropriate money in customers' bank accounts.

To prevent falling into the trap of fraud, EVN said the group and power units do not ask electricity customers to update personal information or access strange links via phone or text message.

"People and customers should absolutely not provide account information, passwords, or OTP codes to anyone whose identity is unknown," EVN warned.

In addition, EVN said that if customers receive suspicious messages or calls, they should immediately contact the customer care centers of the power corporations (by region) or report to the nearest police agency to verify the information.

"EVN and power units hope that electricity customers and people will be more vigilant to avoid being harmed or exploited for bad purposes," EVN informed.

sáp nhập - Ảnh 2. — EVN warns of common fraudulent behaviors recently - Graphics: EVN

People should avoid falling into the psychological traps of scammers.

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online earlier, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Minh Hai - Deputy Head of the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department (Ho Chi Minh City Police) - said that scammers often prey on people's anxiety about having their electricity and water cut off.

According to Mr. Hai, scammers often take advantage of high-tech features to hide their identity and information, and scam phone numbers often use Internet calling services to make calls from anywhere in the world to SIM cards in Vietnam, making it difficult to trace.

Meanwhile, the ringleaders are often in countries outside Vietnam, making it difficult to capture them. "Recently, we have had special projects in Cambodia to capture criminals. Through screening, we discovered more than 1,600 scam calls," said Lieutenant Colonel Hai.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Hai, when receiving suspicious calls, people need to be extremely calm and cautious in all operations on the internet. In addition, when detecting signs of fraud or having been scammed, people need to gather the necessary information to report to the competent authorities.

Ho Chi Minh City Police are deploying an application that helps people report violations. According to Lieutenant Colonel Hai, to avoid falling into scam traps, people need to proactively check links and scam phone numbers through official information channels.

Lieutenant Colonel Hai also advised people to stay calm and always be suspicious of any content that asks for money or pressure...

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bao-dong-chieu-lua-dao-moi-loi-dung-viec-sap-nhap-tinh-thanh-20250629221007701.htm