Be careful when paying via e-wallet

According to points b, d, clause 2, Article 25, clause 5, Article 52 of Circular No. 40/2024/TT-NHNN of the State Bank of Vietnam , from July 1, 2025, e-wallets are officially recognized as a means of payment similar to bank accounts. This means that users can easily transfer money between wallets or from wallets to bank accounts and vice versa. This creates convenience for people, but also creates opportunities for bad guys to carry out scams targeting people who regularly use e-wallets for transactions.

Users should be cautious with messages from strange phone numbers instructing them to upgrade their e-wallet applications.

Regularly using MoMo e-wallet to pay for shopping and living expenses, Ms. NTTE, residing in My Thuan commune, was still shocked because she almost became a victim of a scammer. Ms. TE said: “In early June 2025, a strange phone number contacted me, claiming to be Thuy, an employee of MoMo e-wallet, reading my correct ID number. Thuy said she wanted to help me install and upgrade MoMo so that I could use other features. Because I often pay with MoMo, I immediately agreed. Thuy sent me a link requesting access to upgrade MoMo. I asked "why don't you use App Store?" Thuy explained "this is a new version of MoMo, only for loyal customers, so App Store or CH Play will not have it". I clicked on the link, filled in all the required information, Thuy also said that because I registered early, I would get 500,000 VND added to my account". After sending the information, Ms. TE's e-wallet lost more than 1 million VND. Only then did she realize she had been scammed.

Similarly, Mr. VVT, residing in Rach Gia ward, often uses Zalopay for online payments and money transfers. On July 10, 2025, he received a call from a man named Tien, claiming to be an employee of ZION Joint Stock Company, contacting him for instructions on upgrading Zalopay to perform other convenient services such as loan disbursement support through e-wallets. “I saw that Tien spoke clearly and fluently, so I trusted him. Tien added me as a friend on Zalo and sent me a link asking me to fill in my information so my Zalopay account would be upgraded. I was looking to borrow money, so I followed the instructions. I waited until late afternoon but still didn't see a message from Zalo. I called Tien again and found out that he had blocked my contact. When I paid the electricity bill, I was shocked to find out that my account had been drained of all money, nearly 3 million VND had disappeared,” Mr. T shared.

Not only impersonating e-wallet employees, bad guys also have many other more sophisticated tricks such as: Inviting victims to participate in games, drawing lucky numbers from e-wallets; instructing people to borrow money through e-wallets with simple procedures, low interest rates... along with malicious codes, strange links. When following the instructions, victims will have their personal information, bank account information, e-wallets exposed, leading to cases of money being stolen.

Representatives of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, Ministry of Public Security , recommend that people be vigilant against calls from strangers and strange links received via text messages; be careful when installing applications on the phone, only download applications from official sources to avoid exposing or leaking personal data. With unreliable applications installed from unofficial sources, people need to remove them immediately because during the installation process, bad guys may trick users into allowing access to sensitive data sources on the phone, thereby committing acts of profiteering. In addition, people are not allowed to buy, sell, rent or borrow e-wallets. This is one of the reasons leading to the situation where subjects can use wallets for illegal money circulation. Individuals who rent or borrow e-wallets will be held criminally responsible.

WALL VI

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/can-trong-khi-thanh-toan-qua-vi-dien-tu-a461772.html