Psychologically manipulated, fell into a scam trap and lost more than 746 million VND

As Thanh Nien reported, bad guys took advantage of the attraction of the "Writing to Heal" contest organized by BOOKAS Joint Stock Company (HCMC) to cheat people out of money. One victim lost more than 746 million VND.

Being cheated out of money because of being too gullible, not clear-headed, not alert

After Thanh Nien published the article "Many people who love writing fall into scams and lose millions", on July 10, Ms. TNTN (living in the old Bac Lieu province, now merged into Ca Mau province), told the reporter that she was also a victim.

According to Ms. N., on July 8, she saw information from the fanpage "Healing Writing Contest - 2025". "After reading the information on the fanpage, I found this contest meaningful so I wanted to participate. And I proactively texted the fanpage to ask about the rules and how to participate. The admin (administrator - PV) gave me a form to fill in the registration information, was given the contestant code LHAF207 and downloaded the Lotus Chat application to receive instructions and enter the first round of review", Ms. N. said.

Ms. N. continued: "On Lotus Chat, I was guided by an account named Tran Thao Ly and scheduled to be guided and reviewed in the group with many other candidates from 2 p.m. onwards. After that, we were asked to complete the procedures according to the instructions to be considered for the official participation round. I followed and had to transfer 680,000 VND and was refunded later."

The victim said the scammers gave many reasons for not returning the money, and asked the victim to continue transferring money.

PHOTO: NVCC

Ms. N. said: "Because I was refunded real money, I had more confidence, I continued to follow the steps they instructed, and transferred the amount of 2,980,000 VND. After that, I was informed that I had to leave this chat group, and go to the second chat group called "XD206 Official review of the healing writing contest" to continue the final review. In this group, I continued to be asked to carry out the procedure with the request to transfer increasing amounts of money, including: 8,500,000 VND, 30,980,000 VND, 76,980,000 VND".

"When I had to follow the above steps and transfer the amount of 8,500,000 VND, I was not refunded immediately like the previous two times. I asked and was explained that I had to continuously participate in the next times (with increasing amounts as above) to get a refund. They gave all kinds of reasons such as: breaking the rules, sending the wrong syntax, wrong order... And after many times of being psychologically manipulated, I was scammed out of a total of 746,420,000 VND," said Ms. N.

The victim of this scam said: "Although we only interacted mainly through text messages, I noticed a few key points that made me easily get caught up in their script. That is, there were many people in the chat group, I believed that they were "in the same boat", a group of scammers. They gave me a time and forced me to act according to their requests. I also suffered from the fear of loss effect. That is, if I started, I had to continue, wanting to follow through to get back the initial amount of money."

"I was too gullible, I was not clear-headed, not alert, so I was cheated out of money. 746,420,000 VND is the amount of money my husband and I worked hard to earn, and I tried to ask and borrow more from friends. My feelings at this time are very scared, worried, confused because my trust in getting the money back was broken. I also feel guilty when facing my husband, and those I convinced to borrow money from...", Ms. N. said.

Currently, Ms. N. has been working with BOOKAS Joint Stock Company to report to the police in the hope of quickly finding the scammers. Ms. N. said: "Through myself, I hope everyone needs to seriously raise their vigilance. At this time, there are too many tricks to benefit themselves while harming others. If there is any action of urging to transfer money or take money without any clear and reasonable information, then you should slow down and consider carefully."

The victim said he was repeatedly asked to transfer money, with the amount gradually increasing.

PHOTO: NVCC

Committed to bringing the matter to light, protecting the writing community to the end

Writer Tong Phuoc Bao, Head of the contest's jury, said: "Many people texted me to report being scammed. Some people were scammed out of 680,000 VND, but there were also cases of being scammed out of large sums of money such as: 30 million VND, 76 million VND...".

On the morning of July 10, speaking with reporters, Mr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Chairman and Founder of the e-book platform BOOKAS (the organizer of the "Writing to Heal" contest), said: "In recent days, the writing community has been extremely upset when discovering some people impersonating the contest to illegally profit from those who are passionate about writing. As Chairman and Founder of the e-book platform BOOKAS, I would like to affirm that we will not tolerate any impersonation, forgery, or fraud under the name of our contest."

"As soon as we discovered the incident provided by writers and authors, we took urgent action, such as immediately posting an official warning on all of the company's social media channels (including fanpages, websites, app platforms and linked writing communities), to prevent writers from being scammed by fake fanpages. We request that users absolutely do not provide personal information or transfer money to any organization other than the official channels of BOOKAS. We have sent an official complaint to the Cyber Security Department to clarify the acts of impersonation and forgery of the healing writing contest to scam writers. This is a serious violation of the law, not only civil but also criminal, especially when impersonating a legal entity to appropriate property," said Mr. Dung.

Both the victim, the contest judges and the contest organizer said that this fanpage had scammed many people.

According to Mr. Dung: "The company has set up a channel to receive information from victims. Many writers have contacted and provided evidence of fraud. We are compiling denunciations to send to the investigation agency, and at the same time supporting the victims mentally and legally, and working together to find justice for the victims. The contest we organize is completely free of charge, without collecting any fees at any stage, from registration, submission to review. Any act of requesting money transfers, fees or collecting fees for "review", "issuing certificates", "printing books"... is a scam, unrelated to BOOKAS. It should also be added that the contest we organize is a journey to spread kindness. Therefore, we are even more determined to protect its purity and reputation. We are committed to bringing this matter to light, and protecting the writing community to the end".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bi-thao-tung-tam-ly-sap-bay-lua-khien-bay-mat-hon-746-trieu-dong-185250710133318945.htm