From the case of 2 missing students found in a hotel: Surfing the internet just to watch "rubbish"?

(Dan Tri) - A series of cases of missing students found in hotels due to old and confusing scams, according to many people, may be due to the way students use social networks.

Students "burn" time for "nonsense" information

The case of two new students from the Vietnam Aviation Academy who went missing and were found in a hotel in Tay Ninh due to a study abroad scam and "international cooperation" has left many people confused.

Because, right before the incident, this school had also issued a warning about fraud. This scam has been warned about by the media and schools for many years.

A new student in Ho Chi Minh City filmed a clip of a singer performing on stage (Photo: Hoai Nam).

Recently, a new student in Hanoi followed the instructions of a scammer and "disappeared" after locking himself in his rented room and asking his parents to transfer 1.2 billion VND to a stranger.

Before that, the girl received a phone call from an unknown number, pretending to be a “shipper” delivering a package containing money and drugs. After that, the group of scammers impersonated the police, asked the victim to join a “chat room” on Zoom, accused her of being involved in a money laundering ring and had to transfer money to “prove her innocence”.

According to a lecturer at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, he is not too surprised that students are being fooled with old tricks after observing them using their phones and social networks.

He noticed that many students spend their time online surfing TikTok, watching silly comedy clips, and "watching" other people's dramas (events, dramatic personal lives). They are very indifferent and pay little attention to necessary information and issues that directly affect them.

Maybe the school and media announced, posted on channels, and sent emails warning about scams, but students ignored them and didn't pay attention.

He cited that on his school's student Fanpage, content about study programs and warnings received little attention. On the contrary, humorous, personal, and "expose" content appeared from nowhere, students enthusiastically shared, commented, argued, and even cursed even at 1-2 am.

The male lecturer said that not only in this story, but the reality of students "being immersed" in social networks, ignoring other important information, is happening in many aspects.

He remembered the incident, many times his school invited foreign professors, famous speakers to discuss academics, important topics, but below, the students were dead quiet. Not because of concentration, because of attention, many students… bowed their heads and scrolled through their phones.

When a singer comes to school to perform, students jostle to livestream, film clips, take photos...

Above the professor lectures, below many students sit surfing the internet and playing games (Photo: Hoai Nam).

This person also added that when he interviewed interns for a bank, when asked about the most basic information about their expertise and the bank they were applying to, they did not know. But when it came to the private lives of singers, stars or current trends, many of them knew it by heart.

Students lack digital security skills

The situation of students "sinking" on the virtual network, losing basic life skills and abilities has been raised by many school leaders.

Associate Professor Dr. Vu Hai Quan, Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University, once shared that students need phones to search for information for their studies and lives, but they need to avoid letting their phones silently turn them into prisoners of nonsense information on social networks and games.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Hoang Tu Anh, Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Information Technology, also reminded thousands of students not to let themselves get lost on social networks, in humorous and nonsense information... Learners need to know how to use technology to lead a healthy lifestyle, balance between studying and entertainment, and avoid pitfalls.

According to the research topic "Lifestyle and value orientation of current students" conducted by the Central Secretariat of the Vietnam Student Association on 26,300 students nationwide recently, almost all students use Facebook and Zalo at a very high rate (97.8% and 97%), Instagram and Tiktok at 84.7% and 85.6% respectively.

Students in Ho Chi Minh City participate in a seminar on cell phone use in schools (Photo: Chan Nam).

Students often use multiple social networking services at the same time. 85.1% of students choose “going on social networks” as their daily activity.

In particular, the main purpose of students using social networks is for entertainment with 91.4%; then it is a channel to communicate with friends and relatives; express personal opinions; build image...

Faced with the reality that young people who are familiar with technology can easily become victims of fraud, Mr. Vu Ngoc Son, Head of the Technology and International Cooperation Department (National Cyber ​​Security Association) said that this is not contradictory because "knowing how to use technology" is fundamentally different from "having digital security capacity".

Meanwhile, Mr. Son also said that warnings cannot cover every specific situation; warnings may not come at the right time because after the first exchanges, the victim was isolated and had no outside contact.

Not to mention, criminals use fake trust signals (such as documents, agencies, organizations) causing general prevention messages to be "drowned" by convincing reality at the scene...

The root solution, Mr. Son emphasized, is to improve digital security capacity, the use of technology as well as the "stop" principles for verification.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/tu-vu-2-sinh-vien-mat-tich-tim-thay-o-khach-san-luot-mang-chi-xem-nham-20250925173123596.htm