Nguyen Van H. reported the case of being scammed and "kidnapped" online to the police.

Various forms of fraud

In early September, people in Hue City were shocked by the news of a male student being scammed using a new form of online “kidnapping”.

At around 1:50 p.m. on August 27, Nguyen Van H. (born in 2006, temporarily residing in Phu Xuan ward, university student) received a call from an unknown number, claiming to be a police officer, informing him that his personal information and bank account had been leaked, related to money laundering and drugs. The subject asked H. to install the Zoom application to "work", threatening that if he did not comply, he would be arrested.

Through the video call, H. saw images of people in police uniforms with drug evidence. They asked for personal information and transferred money to a "verification" account. When they learned that H. had no money, they created a scenario of a study abroad scholarship, forcing the family to transfer 460 million VND to pay the fee. On the evening of August 27 and the morning of August 28, H. transferred 210 million VND and 260 million VND to the subjects, respectively.

Not stopping there, at around 11:30 a.m. on August 28, the group of scammers asked H. to rent a separate motel, take off her clothes to "check her tattoos", take pictures and send them to her family with a kidnapping scenario, demanding a ransom of 400 million VND, otherwise they would beat her and sell her to Cambodia.

Suspicious, the family reported to the landlord and Phu Xuan Ward Police. The police quickly identified the place where H. was staying and promptly rescued her while she was continuing a video call with the suspects.

According to Hue City Police, online fraud is not a new phenomenon, but many people, especially the elderly who lack technological knowledge or young people with weak mentality, still become victims.

Targeting the vulnerable

According to information from the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention of Hue City Police, every time there are new state administrative procedures such as: Issuing and changing driver's licenses, identifying VNeID accounts, updating biometrics of bank accounts, electronic tax refunds, etc., criminals create new scam scenarios, causing victims to get lost in a "matrix" of information and be easily fooled.

Common methods and tricks of high-tech criminals include: Emotional fraud followed by luring people into financial investments, performing online tasks or sending money or valuable gifts; impersonating financial companies or banks to support loans, raising credit limits, then requesting money transfers to complete procedures; impersonating state agencies to contact to complete administrative procedures; impersonating public agencies to call and threaten, requesting money transfers or support to recover money that has been defrauded...

Not only online fraud, there have been some groups of people from other provinces coming to Hue City and creating sophisticated fraud scenarios.

Notably, in early September, Ms. HTT (71 years old, resident of Hoa Chau ward, owner of a building materials store) reported that she was approached by a man with a Southern accent, who introduced himself as a worker driving an excavator, boasting that he had just dug up a ceramic jar containing an "antique" consisting of a bunch of bananas and a golden areca branch. The subject offered to exchange the "antique" for the $5,000 gold ring Ms. T. was wearing. Believing her, she handed over the ring and it was taken.

Identifying this as a mobile criminal group, Colonel Ho Xuan Phuong, Deputy Director of Hue City Police, directed an urgent investigation. In just 3 hours, the police cordoned off the area and arrested the group at a motel in Thanh Thuy Ward. They confessed to buying banana bunches and areca branches made of gold metal on TikTok (priced at 700,000 - 1.4 million VND), covering them with sand and soil to disguise them as "antiques", then tricking gullible elderly people into exchanging them for gold and jewelry.

Using the above method, two other scams were also successfully carried out in Hue City. The seized evidence included 12 bunches of bananas, 10 fake gold areca branches, 4 motorbikes, 6 phones, 1 fake gold ring and 18.3 million VND. Expanding the investigation, the subjects also confessed to having committed two similar scams in Da Nang City and Gia Lai Province.

The incident is a warning to people, especially the elderly, to be extremely vigilant with offers and solicitations about "antiques" or rare items of unknown origin.

Through the recent incidents, the Hue City Police Department recommends that people should raise their vigilance against fraudsters, especially fraudsters on the internet. Common tricks include impersonating police officers, prosecutors, and courts to commit fraud. Note that the authorities do not work over the phone or on social networks, and do not request money transfers to assist in investigations.

When receiving notice of prosecution, arrest warrant... via phone, people need to stay calm, not panic, not provide personal information, bank account, OTP code, not transfer money; not self-isolate to follow the requests of the subjects. For families, when receiving information about a relative being kidnapped, they need to quickly contact the nearest police station for support and instructions on how to handle the situation, not follow the requests of the subjects.

Article and photos: Minh Nguyen

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/an-ninh-quoc-phong/canh-giac-thu-doan-lua-dao-bien-tuong-157908.html