Swindled out of 55 million VND for registering child for handwriting contest

Defrauded of 55 million VND for registering child for handwriting contest - Illustration: DOAN NHAN

On November 19, Ms. Dang Thi Viet Ha, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Cam Le District (Da Nang City), confirmed that a parent had just been scammed out of 55 million VND when registering her child to participate in an online calligraphy contest.

Accordingly, this parent has a child studying at Ngo Quyen Primary School. When seeing online a calligraphy contest with the content "Together with Eras and the Vietnamese Calligraphy Club, honor the art of calligraphy through the 2024 Vietnam Calligraphy Contest with the theme Childhood for Children", this parent registered for her child to participate.

A person claiming to be a competition instructor contacted the students, asking for money to be transferred so they could participate. At first, it was only a few hundred thousand, then a few million.

After many times, this parent transferred the total amount of 55 million VND to the guidance staff. However, the child still could not pass the handwriting competition and the parent was also cut off from contact with this person.

Ms. Ha said that after knowing she had been scammed, this parent reported the incident to the school.

The Department of Education and Training of Cam Le district has requested school principals to propagate and inform parents and students to raise vigilance against Internet crimes.

Also, pay special attention to scams through online contests, requests for money transfers, providing personal information or links to unknown websites.

Leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Cam Le district also noted that schools need to guide parents and students to carefully check the authenticity of programs and only participate in competitions organized by reputable agencies and organizations.

According to the investigation, the contest with the same name as the one reported by the parents ended in July 2024. Recently, the content of the contest has been copied and posted on social networking sites to trick parents. The organizer of this contest has also issued a warning to parents to be aware of online scams.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bi-lua-55-trieu-dong-vi-dang-ky-thi-viet-chu-dep-cho-con-20241119201301923.htm