1. Fraudulent appropriation of property impersonating an employee of a Justice agency, a Police agency
The subjects used many different scenarios such as: Pretending to be a postal staff to call to receive the parcel; telecommunications staff call to notify the debt of charges; traffic police call to report cold fines, causing an accident to flee, etc. They contact the victim to exploit personal information, then use that information to fake arrest and prosecution orders of the police agency to threaten the victim (often report victims related to transnational drug trafficking rings, money laundering), ask the victim to transfer money to an account provided by them for investigation, then appropriate or ask the victim to register a bank account by themselves, transfer money to that account, then provide account, password, OTP code for the subjects, then they withdraw money in the account to appropriate.
2. Fraudulent participation in the exchange game application, enticing foreign exchange investments on fake exchanges
Subjects post advertisements, links on social networking sites with content sharing how to make easy money in their spare time to entice people to be curious to learn, when people click on it, subjects claiming to be coordinators and guides will read contact orders and put them into chat groups with many virtual chat accounts (most of the accounts on these chat groups are owned by the subjects) to guide people to download winning game applications such as: Max3d, Doji, Coin Base, etc. register an account and participate in depositing and placing orders according to the guide reading the order (rolling chickens, creating crowd effects). The goal is to beat the player's greed, so the subjects let the player win the first time with a small amount of money and let the player withdraw the profit to build trust, then the subjects entice the player to participate in orders with large amounts of money, when the player submits a withdrawal request, the subject will report an instant withdrawal error and ask to pay different premiums to withdrawal requests processed, etc. Just like that, the subject draws and asks the borrower to pay a lot of fees. In fact, after the customer has made a deposit, he/she will not be able to withdraw any money.
3. People are scammed to appropriate property when being lured by subjects to join online sales collaborators
Subjects message or use social network accounts to post recruitment collaborators to buy and sell goods on e-commerce platforms such as Shoppe, Lazada, Tiki, etc. After contacting job seekers, the subjects require them to pay for their orders first and then receive a refund of the principal plus a "commission" discount. For the first orders of small value, collaborators will be quickly paid with a "commission" as promised to build trust and fight greed because making money is too easy. When the collaborator's order amount is larger and larger, the subjects will play tricks to appropriate.
4. Fraudulent appropriation of property through impersonation of financial companies lending money online
The tricks of the subjects are to offer loans to victims with many incentives, simple procedures without appraisal, disbursement within 15 minutes, large loan limits, low interest rates, etc. to attract customers. The subject will then ask the customer to install an online loan app to apply for a loan app. In order for customers to trust, subjects send loan approval notices to customers (who use fake seals of banks) and are required to log in to the app to disburse. The subject will then report a disbursement error and ask to pay money to process the loan, etc. Just like that, the subject draws and asks the borrower to pay a lot of fees. In fact, after the customer completes the payment, he/she will not receive any disbursement and lose the entire amount paid as requested.
5. Spoofing bank messages to send fake access links to steal bank account information
With an electronic device that functions as a mobile BTS (transceiver), the subject "hacks" into the bank's messaging system to send the phone subscriber a message requesting access to the attached link leading to a website with the same interface as the bank's official website, only one or a few characters are different on the link, but you have to be sharp and pay attention to recognize it. When following the request and accessing the fake page, the customer will declare the login information, password, OTP code, and then be immediately appropriated to administer the bank account. After that, the subject will perform transactions to transfer all the money currently in the customer's account. With the trick of spoofing the bank's brand message, along with many new tricks that have appeared, many victims have been overlooked, even though they have a sense of vigilance. The time when criminals send messages by this trick is mainly when the bank is not active, such as at night, dawn, weekends, or holidays, Tet, etc. The reason they choose these times is that the user cannot authenticate the information. Just follow their instructions and the money in the user's bank account will be completely taken.
* Recommendations from authorities to people in preventing high-tech scams:
- People, when working as collaborators for any goods and service suppliers or e-commerce platforms, need to clearly check the information about the goods and the supplier to verify the accuracy; avoid letting scammers take advantage of and get caught in traps.
- People need to be proactive in being vigilant and watch out for methods and tricks that take advantage of high technology to cheat and appropriate; regularly listen to newspapers and radio, fully update information about tricks of cybercriminals to be proactive in being alert and taking precautions; when receiving a call from a stranger, claiming to be an official of a state agency, etc., with signs of fraud, people need to calm down, not be afraid, quickly contact relatives and friends for advice and help or promptly notify the nearest police agency for instructions on preventing, stopping and effectively handling fraudulent acts.
- People do not participate in investing in forms of business organizations and transactions that the State Bank of Vietnam has not yet licensed, namely Forex trading platform, winning game apps and fake trading platforms.
- People need to raise their awareness of being wary of investment forms in the form of gaming for rewards, be careful with tricks of hiding on foreign exchanges, enticing individuals to invest with high interest rates to scam.
- People absolutely do not transfer money, join groups related to the Forex trading platform set up by many domestic and foreign individuals and organizations.
People are advised to pay attention to:
People absolutely do not use personal information to set up bank accounts or sign up for mobile subscriptions and then sell or rent them out to bad subjects. When investigated, people will be strictly handled according to the provisions of the law.
The Police agencies do not handle cases related to criminal proceedings via phone calls and social networks; when working with people, the police agencies always send officers to work directly or send a written notice or summons from the grassroots police level.
- Note: for bank accounts of individuals: OTP code is the last stop, absolutely do not give OTP code to anyone.
When you need support and advice, please contact the nearest police agency or contact the Cyber Security and High-tech Crime Prevention Division - Binh Duong Provincial Police, No. 681, Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, Chanh Nghia Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province, Tel: 02743.815.505.
Reported by Mai Xuan- Translated by Thanh Tam