Beware of recurring fraud and property appropriation through social networks

Many tricks of fraud and property appropriation through social networks. (Illustration photo)

According to the police, online scammers often use specialized software and devices to attack social network accounts such as Zalo and Facebook, take over the user's rights to access the friend list, and then send messages via social networks, asking for urgent loans, asking for money transfers, and then appropriating property. These are old tricks, but people still lose their vigilance and become victims in a moment of carelessness.

The accounts that the subjects choose, steal, and take over administration rights are often accounts with simple, easy-to-remember passwords... After taking over Zalo and Facebook accounts, the scammers focus on researching personal information, interests, chat history, how to talk to friends and relatives, then impersonate to ask for help, with common content such as having difficulties or saying there is an urgent need to borrow money, asking to buy things, buying phone cards and then appropriating property...

Ms. Tran Thu An, residing in Hoan Kiem ward ( Hanoi ), received a messenger message from a friend boasting that her nephew had participated in a singing contest and was voted on Zalo; from there, she asked Ms. An to go to Zalo to scan the QR code her friend sent to "like" and share to vote for her nephew. Without any doubt, Ms. An did as she was told. But the next day, Ms. An was extremely surprised to see many acquaintances calling to say that Ms. An had texted to ask to borrow money and someone had transferred 5 million VND to the account number she sent them via text message.

When she checked, she was surprised to find that she could no longer log in to her Zalo. Only then did she realize that when she scanned the QR code to vote for the contest, her Zalo account had been taken over by a bad guy. From there, the person impersonated her to send messages to trick her relatives and friends into borrowing money.

According to experts from the Department of Information Security, Ministry of Science and Technology , this is not a new trick, but subjects still regularly collect images and videos by searching for images and videos from social network accounts or other sources, then using AI technology to combine faces and voices, create fake video calls of relatives and friends, and then trick people into transferring money. During the call, the subjects often give urgent reasons such as accidents, debts, or need for financial support, requesting immediate money transfers to the accounts they provide...

According to warnings from authorities, at the end of the year, the situation of fraud and property appropriation crimes via social networks will become more complicated with many extremely sophisticated tricks. People need to raise their vigilance when participating in activities on the internet, especially on social networks Zalo and Facebook. When receiving a phone call, they must first verify the information, call back relatives directly via a known phone number to check the information, and not rush to transfer money as requested in a video call or message on social networks.

In addition, when using social networks, people need to be vigilant, absolutely do not share passwords and personal information such as occupation, date of birth, check-in addresses; do not make friends on social networks. Be wary of strange accounts, foreign accounts, accounts that actively invite friends, especially in cases of money transfers, phone card top-ups, online shopping. When detecting signs of fraud, quickly report to the police to verify, promptly handle the case, and arrest the subject...

Quang Minh

Source: https://nhandan.vn/canh-giac-tai-dien-hanh-vi-lua-dao-chiem-doat-tai-san-qua-mang-xa-hoi-post920173.html