Impersonating the Vietnam Badminton Federation to commit fraud: Be careful, avoid being taken advantage of by scammers

Official website of Vietnam Badminton Federation

Lost hundreds of millions of dong

On November 20, a parent went to the Office of the Vietnam Badminton Federation, located in the headquarters of the Department of Physical Education and Sports (36 Tran Phu, Hanoi ) to ask for information about whether the Federation recruits students and awards scholarships as stated on the fanpage and reported that they had transferred money to the group on the fake fanpage.

In Ho Chi Minh City, there was also a case where a parent joined a group to register their child for badminton lessons and was instructed on the steps to transfer tuition fees. This parent recounted: “Yesterday, my wife joined a group to register her child for badminton lessons. They asked her to complete a survey on 3 links and transfer money for verification and then transfer it back. My wife transferred the money but the form was incorrect. A guy instructed her to transfer it a second time to verify it. My wife transferred it but it was still missing a period, so she was forced to transfer it again. The amount of money was up to hundreds of millions several times. When I got home, I suspected fraud, so I told my wife to stop and asked for instructions on the processing procedure. He instructed me to do the procedure directly at the address at 3 Phan Van Dat, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. I looked it up and found that this address is the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Federation.” Ms. Tang Thi Huyen said that this was the information she received from the Ho Chi Minh City Badminton Federation because the above parent later went to the Federation's headquarters at 3 Phan Van Dat to ask and then found out that she had been scammed.

Using sophisticated tricks to gain the trust of parents, the scammers also make certificates for students who have successfully completed the preliminary activities and are qualified to enter the official round to become students of the Vietnam Badminton Federation. After luring parents with fraudulent pages, the scammers will invite parents to groups to interact and gain trust, then lead parents to transfer money to pay fees for their children to become official members.

Ms. Tang Thi Huyen added that in recent days, she has been receiving many phone calls from parents who, after being scammed, panicked and searched for the official website of the Federation and the registered phone number to call and ask for information. These parents recounted their journey of being scammed quite similarly. First, they searched for information on social networks and visited fraudulent fan pages. After entering the page, they were invited to join a group on Telegram. There will be many members in the group. Then the parents will be lured by requests to follow each step to transfer money. If parents transfer money many times, the amount of 500,000 VND or more, they will be transferred back about 10%. Some parents, after many transfers, the amount has reached 200 million VND, and some even lost up to 300 million VND.

Subjects forged the seal and signature of the Vietnam Badminton Federation

Vietnam Badminton Federation has not opened any badminton training courses or institutes yet.

“I also asked why parents are so gullible and follow the steps, the answer is quite similar, following the instructions and just “blindly” doing it. The Vietnam Badminton Federation’s main task is to manage badminton activities. Currently, we have not opened any badminton courses or training institutes, so we hope parents will be wise when choosing a place to register their children. We also have the Federation’s phone number and address, if there are any problems, parents can contact us to avoid being taken advantage of by badminton players,” Ms. Tang Thi Huyen wished.

The subjects also forged seals with the words Executive Board of the Vietnam Badminton Federation and the signature of the General Secretary of the Vietnam Badminton Federation, Le Thanh Ha. The fake pages were named "VBF Youth Badminton Training Center" or "VBF - Youth Badminton". With the certificates fully stamped and signed by the General Secretary of the Vietnam Badminton Federation, Le Thanh Ha, it is difficult for parents, if they are not active in the sports world, to distinguish between real and fake. The top of the certificates also fully states the prestigious state agencies of the Federations and Associations, namely the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism - Department of Physical Training and Sports. However, for those working in the sports field, the words used by the subjects are quite silly and there is no organization called the Executive Board of the Vietnam Badminton Federation, it will usually be the Executive Board or the Standing Committee of the Vietnam Badminton Federation.

“Immediately after learning about the information that there were fake fanpages impersonating the official page of the Federation, on November 11, 2023, we posted a warning on the official fanpage with the following content: Recently, the Vietnam Badminton Federation has received a lot of information from badminton fans asking about the recruitment of gifted classes from fake pages. Currently, the Vietnam Badminton Federation only has one Facebook page, the Vietnam Badminton Federation VBF (with a blue tick). So the Vietnam Badminton Federation would like to inform everyone to avoid being taken advantage of. However, after posting the notice, this situation still continues. We hope that the press agencies and everyone will share the notice so that more people know about these fake fanpages and avoid being taken advantage of by badminton players,” Ms. Tang Thi Huyen expressed.

General Secretary of the Vietnam Badminton Federation Le Thanh Ha hopes that before the case is investigated and clarified by the authorities, parents need to research carefully before registering their children for badminton lessons, especially before transferring money as requested by scammers.

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