Warning about online scam "traps" at the end of the year

At the end of the year, knowing that people will prepare money to shop for Tet, many bad guys have taken advantage of this time to set traps with extremely sophisticated online scams. People need to be extremely vigilant to avoid becoming victims of these tricks.

A series of agencies, units and functional sectors issue warnings about year-end fraud.

A series of sophisticated tricks

As the year comes to an end, scams are becoming more prevalent. The most common is impersonating authorities and departments to call people to scam them. Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet P (living in Zone 5, Phong Chau Town, Phu Ninh District) has been receiving calls from strangers claiming to be electricity employees in recent days. This person informed her that she would receive a discount on her electricity bill as a way to thank customers at the end of the year. She only needed to install the application they sent and transfer money when paying her monthly electricity bill to receive a 15-20% discount. Due to her old age and lack of familiarity with smartphones, Ms. P asked her nephew to help her. Ms. P's nephew calmly contacted the electricity department to verify and promptly helped Ms. P avoid the scam.

Recently, the Vietnam Registry has also issued a warning about bad guys impersonating the Registry's staff to contact vehicle owners and notify that from October 1, 2024, the Registry will change the inspection stamp model and request vehicle owners who want to change the new stamp to pay 10,000 VND/stamp and a shipping fee of 23,000 VND to the Registry's account. At the same time, these people guide vehicle owners to access a fake Registry link to declare personal information to change the inspection stamp. When vehicle owners access the fake link, there is a risk of having their money stolen.

The common formula of scammers is to lure people to download software containing malicious code to attack and take control of social network accounts such as Facebook, Zalo and then impersonate to borrow money from acquaintances. In addition, the subjects will ask people to provide passwords or OTP codes and then appropriate money in bank accounts. They even use facial impersonation software when people call to verify information.

Cao Xa Commune Police, Lam Thao District coordinated with the bank to prevent an online fraud of 190 million VND.

Sophisticated tricks with the support of information technology have made many people fall into the trap. Recently, the police in some localities in the province have coordinated with bank officials to help many people escape the online fraud trap of bad guys. The victims are mainly the elderly, not proficient in information technology.

They use high technology, hiding under phone numbers similar to the public phone numbers of the police and the prosecutor's office to call the victims, informing them that they are being sued for debt or are involved in a case or special case that the police are investigating, verifying, or have an arrest warrant from the prosecutor's office...; asking the victims to declare their assets, current cash and deposits in bank accounts. Then, the subjects use threatening words to temporarily detain the victims for investigation and ask them to transfer money or read the OTP code so that they can transfer money to their accounts under the guise of verification and investigation.

Raise awareness

Despite repeated warnings from authorities and departments, many people still fall into the traps of scammers. In August 2024 alone, the police of Cao Xa commune, Lam Thao district and the police of An Dao commune, Phu Ninh district coordinated with banks and credit funds in the area to successfully prevent two cases of impersonating police and prosecutors to defraud the amount of 190 million VND and 580 million VND.

Ms. Dinh Thi Kim Thuy - Director of Agribank Lam Thao Branch said: "When the customer came to withdraw money, the transaction staff discovered that the customer had unusual behavior and reported to the branch leaders. We approached and contacted the commune police to reassure and advise the customer and fortunately promptly prevented the scammer from appropriating people's money."

An Dao Commune Police, Phu Ninh District, coordinated with a local credit fund to successfully prevent a fraud case involving 580 million VND.

The work of preventing and combating fraud crimes in cyberspace has also received much attention. Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh signed Official Dispatch No. 139/CD-TTg dated December 23, 2024 of the Prime Minister on strengthening the prevention and handling of high-tech fraud activities in cyberspace.

Assessment: The situation of property fraud crimes is still complicated, with many new and sophisticated methods of operation, especially high-tech property fraud crimes in cyberspace, causing great damage to people's property, affecting security and order. The main reason is that the Party committees and heads of some ministries, branches and localities are not determined in directing the prevention and handling of property fraud activities. The propaganda and dissemination of methods, tricks and consequences of property fraud crimes are not very effective, not suitable for the change in new methods and tricks of operation. A part of the people have a greedy mentality, limited awareness of self-protection of property and personal information security... Some legal provisions related to the fields of finance, banking, telecommunications... still reveal limitations and shortcomings, and have not been amended or supplemented. Coordination between ministries, branches and localities is still not synchronous, timely and effective.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Public Security to coordinate with the State Bank, the Ministry of Information and Communications and relevant ministries and branches to research and build an inter-sectoral coordination model to quickly and promptly handle cases with signs of fraud and appropriation of assets using high technology and in cyberspace; build a database of payment accounts and e-wallets suspected of being involved in illegal activities to promptly warn, prevent, stop, and recover assets and complete it in the first quarter of 2025.

More than ever, people (especially the elderly) need to be vigilant with phone calls, invitations, social network acquaintances, requests to transfer money, and provide OTP codes to avoid "losing money and becoming victims of strong scams at the end of the year.

Thuy Trang

Source: https://baophutho.vn/canh-bao-bay-lua-dao-tren-mang-dip-cuoi-nam-226874.htm