Warning: Facebook Fanpage with fake 'blue tick' helps users get their money back

The Blue Checkmark was originally issued by Facebook to verify the official accounts of famous people or large organizations, creating trust in the community. However, from March 2023, Meta launched the Meta Verified service, allowing any individual or organization that pays a monthly fee to own a Blue Checkmark, regardless of their level of popularity or actual trustworthiness.

Impersonating state agencies to support people

In recent days, the online community has been abuzz with the appearance of a Facebook Fanpage called Information Security Support Portal for People.

This page posts a lot of content that seems legitimate, which can easily confuse users with the official Fanpage of the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center (NCSC). What is worrying is that although it was only created on June 4, 2025, this Fanpage already has a blue tick, a factor that makes many people lose their vigilance and easily fall into scams when contacting to "recover money stolen online."

Many cybersecurity experts have warned that this Fanpage is fake. In fact, the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center is under the Department of Information Security, formerly under the Ministry of Information and Communications. However, according to the decision of the competent authority, the functions and tasks of the Department of Information Security will be transferred to the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control, Ministry of Public Security from February 28, 2025. With this transfer, the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center (under the Department of Information Security) will also officially cease operations after February 28, 2025.

Therefore, Fanpages with names or content related to the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center are all fake.

According to the investigation of the VietnamPlus Electronic Newspaper reporter, this is not the first time this Center has been impersonated. In early April 2024, NCSC also issued a warning about the website “policeonline.club” that impersonated the center’s website to post fraudulent advertising information.

Accordingly, this website is designed with many interface details similar to the official website of NCSC along with some articles and information warning about fraud in Vietnam's cyberspace to create trust in viewers.

However, along with that is information such as: "Fighting for justice, helping victims of fraud through cyberspace," "99.99% success rate in getting money back, through the cyberspace monitoring center"...

At the same time, the website has many connections to lure users to contact the impostor via phone calls, Zalo messages, Messenger, reports via the website... NCSC also quickly warned people to be careful, absolutely do not access the above link.

The interface can easily make users misunderstand that this is an official fanpage. (Screenshot)

Some ways to identify fraudulent Fanpages

According to cybersecurity expert Vu Ngoc Son - Head of Research, Consulting, Technology Development and International Cooperation, National Cyber Security Association, the blue tick is granted by Facebook to verify the official accounts of famous people or large organizations, creating trust in the community.

However, since March 2023, Meta - the parent company of Facebook and Instagram has launched the Meta Verified service, allowing any individual or organization that pays a monthly fee to own a blue tick, regardless of their level of popularity or actual trustworthiness.

Taking advantage of this policy, scammers have spent money to "legitimize" fake Fanpages. Not only the Fanpage of the Information Portal to support people's information security, but also pages such as Military Semester, Police Semester... are also using similar tricks to deceive social network users.

Previously, users could check the credibility of a blue-tick fanpage by looking at the "Page Transparency" section to detect signs of unusual name changes, which is a common trick of scam groups that buy old Fanpages and then rename them. However, with new Fanpages that buy blue ticks from the beginning through Meta Verified, this checking method is no longer effective.

This scam fanpage was only created on June 4, 2025 and has been running ads to attract viewers. (Screenshot)

Mr. Vu Ngoc Son warned: "Facebook currently has no signs to help users distinguish between blue ticks due to popularity and blue ticks due to payment. Therefore, even Fanpages that have not changed their names and are newly established but have blue ticks can be fake."

Another way to check is to look at the time the Fanpage was created. Usually, a reputable Fanpage will have a long history, while a fraudulent Fanpage has just been created recently. However, the trick of "raising a page" by creating a paid blue-tick Fanpage early and then waiting until the time to spread the scam makes it difficult for users to distinguish.

Experts recommend that users absolutely do not provide personal information, bank accounts or transfer money to any Fanpage, even if it has a blue tick. If you encounter a suspicious page, you need to report it to Facebook and warn the community to avoid falling into a scam trap.

Expert Vu Ngoc Son warned users to be careful with blue-tick fanpages that show signs of fraud. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

When receiving strange calls or contacting groups providing services on social networks, absolutely do not make money transfers to strangers without researching and verifying their identity.

People, especially those who have been financially scammed, should be extremely cautious of websites or social networking groups that constantly run advertisements and solicitations to get back lost money./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/canh-bao-fanpage-facebook-co-tich-xanh-gia-mao-ho-tro-nguoi-dung-lay-lai-tien-post1044064.vnp