Beware of cybercriminals

“1001 types” of scams

Recently, Ms. Pham Thi Ha, Ha Giang commune (Dong Hung) was hijacked by the subjects to use the zalo of a colleague and then texted her to borrow money. Due to her subjectivity, she transferred money to the subjects 3 times with the amount of 120 million dong, only to find out that she was cheated. Right after that, Ms. Ha made a report to the police, but so far, the fraudsters have not been found to appropriate her property. Ms. Ha said: This is the agency's fund, I had to spend my own money to pay for the collective. Subject also called zalo to create trust. I know about the scam to use facebook to borrow money, but I have never heard of the right to use zalo before so I fell into the trap. Through this incident, I want to warn everyone to always be wary of messages, calls to borrow money via social networks to verify information by phone, not to be fooled into losing money like me. .

To defraud and appropriate people's property, criminals use "1001 types" of fraud through cyberspace with very sophisticated methods and tricks, making victims unpredictable. Along with hijacking the use of social networks for messaging, using deepfake technology to call through social networks to borrow money from friends, relatives, colleagues ... and then appropriating money from the victims transferred, the subjects also pretending to be phone carriers to announce that your phone number has won a prize of great value, there is a fee to receive that property; impersonating a police officer, court, procuracy, etc., to call and notify people involved in the case or to sanction a traffic violation, to request the victim to transfer money to the account that the fraudsters cheat. provided for investigation and handling purposes. Or the trick is to pretend to be a bank officer to call to inform the victim that someone has transferred money to the account but due to an error, it cannot be transferred or informs that the customer's internet banking money transfer software is faulty... so request The customer provides the card number and OTP code to check, then the subjects use the information provided by the victim to access the victim's account and withdraw money. Taking advantage of the gullibility and the need to make quick money of some people, the fake subjects recruited collaborators to process orders for e-commerce platforms to carry out the act of appropriating property. With the invitation to invest in "drop heart" mission packages, share videos on the tiktok platform, youtube make money online "light work with high salary", many people are also "trapped" and cheated.

Recently, many parents of students in some localities have received phone calls from scammers impersonating teachers, doctors, and medical staff, reporting that their children have had an accident, are receiving medical treatment. At the hospital, requesting a quick transfer of money to pay for hospital fees, there have been cases of being cheated with hundreds of millions of dong. There are also many mobile subscribers who receive calls from an unknown number impersonating the switchboard of the Ministry of Information and Communications, threatening to lock the sim in 2 hours; or request to provide name, citizen identification number to serve the standardization of subscriber information, if not provided, the subscriber will be locked for a few hours. When the phone user followed the instructions, the object appropriated the sim, appropriated bank accounts, e-wallets, and then appropriated money...

Strengthen the fight

According to Major Le Xuan Quang, Deputy Head of the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control, Thai Binh Provincial Police: The scams have different forms, but they all have the same scenario as requirements. The victim transfers money to a designated account or provides an OTP to verify the money transfer for checking, verification and then appropriation. Due to gullibility and subjectivity, but also due to greed because of the promise of gifts, huge profits, and high-paying jobs, many people have fallen into traps, leading to the loss of money from several million dong to billions. copper. Along with promoting propaganda to raise people's awareness about fraudulent methods and tricks to appropriate property in cyberspace, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-tech Crime Prevention and Control have focused on coordinating with professional units of the Provincial Police to investigate, verify and handle 12 cases related to crimes using high technology.

Thai Binh city police enter data records related to activities of fraudsters to appropriate property in cyberspace.

Along with that, police of districts, cities, and police of communes, wards and townships in the province continuously give recommendations to residential areas to warn people to raise their vigilance not to be caught. trap objects. 

Major Phan Minh Hoang, Deputy Chief of Thai Binh City Police said: Recently, the unit has also received many reports of denunciations of crimes from citizens, agencies and units about the subjects who used illegal methods. phone contact, social network conduct fraud to appropriate property. Through sources of crime denunciation and struggle work, in early January 1, the City Police discovered a fraudulent line of organized criminal activities with sophisticated tricks, using high technology, hooking up with foreigners operating outside the Vietnamese territory to commit fraud to appropriate property of Vietnamese people in the country on a large scale, arresting 2023 subjects. These subjects pretended to be a telecommunications agency in Vietnam to contact the victim, notify the victim of illegal acts and connect directly to the authorities to report. After that, the subjects continued to pretend to be a police agency or a procuracy to offer assistance to the victim to solve the case, asking the victim to transfer money to the object's account number to appropriate it. From November 19 to the end of December 11, 2022, the above fraud line has appropriated a total amount of over 31 billion VND. In November 12, Thai Binh City Police also prosecuted and detained 2022 fraudsters to appropriate property in the form of selling perfumes and giving gifts via social networks with the number of victims up to more than 28 people in 11 district-level administrative units across the country with the amount appropriated in billions of dong.

Thai Binh city police arrested fraudsters to appropriate property in cyberspace in January 1. Photo: Thai Binh PoliceEvidence of the case of fraudsters to appropriate property through cyberspace was arrested by Thai Binh City Police in January 1. Photo: Thai Binh Police 

Raise vigilance

According to Major Le Xuan Quang: In order to prevent and prevent fraudulent acts of appropriating property in cyberspace, along with the struggle of the police force, each citizen and organization must regularly update update, grasp new methods and tricks of the subjects, raise vigilance, sense of prevention to avoid being scammed and appropriated property. Always be vigilant when receiving incoming calls, callers claiming to be officials of state agencies, especially police forces, to notify and request investigation of the case by phone. People need to pay attention, police agencies, procuracies and courts, if working with people, will have invitations and summons and work directly at the headquarters, not by phone. . Especially do not listen to those who transfer money to designated accounts. Regularly check and update security and privacy features on bank accounts, social network accounts. Do not lend or lease relevant personal papers such as citizen identification, identity card or bank card, do not accept bank transfers or receive money from bank transfers to unknown people...

Manh Cuong