Warning about taking advantage of storm number 3 for personal gain

Affected by storm No. 3, many northern provinces and cities have been flooded and landslides have occurred on a large scale, seriously affecting people's lives. On the media and social networks, there is no shortage of images of buried villages, many people isolated in floodwaters, many people losing their homes, crops, livestock, and even their loved ones. The number of casualties and property damage cannot be fully counted.

With the spirit of mutual love and support, facing the heavy losses in the North, responding to the call for joint efforts to support compatriots affected by natural disasters, many kind-hearted people across the country have not hesitated to lend a helping hand. However, many people have taken advantage of this opportunity to make profits. Therefore, people need to be very alert, to avoid being taken advantage of.

Scams still rampant during hurricane season

According to records, taking advantage of the storm and flood situation, some fanpages were set up to call for support and donations for affected people.

In Hanoi , specifically in Ba Dinh district, scammers use images and information of locations damaged by storms and floods, impersonating the Women's Union of some wards (Quan Thanh, Nguyen Trung Truc, Truc Bach) to call for donations. The donated money is transferred to personal accounts for appropriation.

On September 7, the Quang Ninh Red Cross's Facebook page posted a report about fraudulent fanpages and impersonations calling for support for people affected by storm Yagi.

Warning: Taking advantage of storm number 3 for personal gain

Through the investigation of the Department of Information and Communications of Quang Ninh, this fanpage was just established, has only 4 articles on the topic of responding to the super typhoon and has only more than 100 followers. The scammers used images and information similar to the official page, called for donations to personal accounts and then took over. Up to now, despite being reported by many people and reported by the press, this fanpage still openly exists, continuing to call for money transfers.

Similarly, on September 11, on social networks, the fanpage of the Fatherland Front Committee of Lam Thao district ( Phu Tho province) appeared, calling for support for families affected by the Phong Chau bridge collapse.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Toan - Chairman of the Fatherland Front Committee of Lam Thao district confirmed that the above appeal information is incorrect.

Security expert Ngo Minh Hieu also pointed out a number of new scams in recent days. Specifically, bad guys will take advantage of the situation of posting articles with photos created by AI and then stand up to call. The subject will stand up to buy essential necessities such as life jackets, bread, drinks... and bring them directly to the locality needing support. After people transfer money to their personal account, the subject disappears without a trace.

In addition, there is a lot of fake information on the internet about Viettel Telecom providing free mobile waves to people affected by Typhoon Yagi. Accordingly, when there is no wifi network, people enter the following syntax (free of charge) such as 3ST4G send to 191, 4G send to 191, 5GBKM send to 191, 5GKM send to 191, ZP15 send to 191, ST15 send to 191, ST15N_4G send to 19 to get the network. However, the network representative said that the above information is completely fake.

Be very careful when doing charity.

Security expert Vu Ngoc Son - Technical Director of National Cyber ​​Security Technology Joint Stock Company (NSC), Head of Technology Research Department of National Cyber ​​Security Association said: taking advantage of disasters and natural calamities to commit fraud is a fairly common situation in the world.

Expert Ngo Minh Hieu again emphasized that we should be careful when receiving information on social networks, avoid transferring charity money to the wrong address. Everyone needs to be vigilant for everyone to only transfer money to the contribution account for the victims in the storm and flood areas in the North, of the State and of the Fatherland Front.

“We need to be careful with unverified sources of information. Not to mention malicious elements that confuse public opinion to divide the solidarity of the nation,” said expert Ngo Minh Hieu.

To avoid being taken advantage of by charity money scams, authorities advise people to be vigilant, not to follow unverified instructions on the Internet, and not to transfer money to any personal account when the recipient's information is not accurately determined. People need to research and verify information through official sources, and at the same time, they are asked to report to authorities when they discover pages or personal accounts that show signs of fraud.

In addition, people should support compatriots affected by storms and floods through state agencies such as the Vietnam Fatherland Front, Red Cross at all levels and local authorities... and not through any individual when they do not know exactly about that individual.

In Instruction 38/HD-MTTW-BTT in 2020, the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee has provided guidance on the forms of support and receipt of contributions for flood victims. Accordingly, there are the following ways to support:

- Transfer via State Treasury

+ Account name: Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front

+ Account number: 3713.0.1058784.00000 at Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam

- Support via bank

+ Account name: Vietnam Fatherland Front - Central Relief Committee

+ Account number: 001.1.00.193241.8 at Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam

+ Foreign currency account: account name: Vietnam Fatherland Front - Central Relief Committee

+ Account number: 001.1.37.193253.8 at Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam

- Cash support: receiving unit - Planning and Finance Department, office of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, room 109 and 111, building B, 46 Trang Thi, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi.

- In-kind support: coordinate with the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front or the Red Cross at all levels to allocate and transfer directly to damaged localities.

- Support through local programs: people can contact directly at the local level through the programs of the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Relief Committees of provinces and cities report to the Party Committee to coordinate with the authorities to organize.

The donated money is sent to the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee to balance and allocate to damaged localities.

In addition, people can also donate and support through units, workplaces; schools; reputable organizations and units that call for support and donations.

Source: https://kinhtedothi.vn/canh-bao-loi-dung-bao-so-3-de-truc-loi-cho-ban-than.html