Ignoring police warnings, the girl was scammed out of over 1 billion VND.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Vo Trung Thanh, online fraud is at a "red alert" level. There have been cases where people were warned but ignored the scammers' advice, losing an additional 250 million VND, bringing the total to 1.15 billion VND.

On the morning of November 30th, the Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, in coordination with the City Youth Union and the City Police, organized a training conference on safe and healthy social media use for youth union members and young people in the city. The event attracted nearly 300 youth union members and young people.

According to the Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, along with the increased use of social media platforms, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of students using social media and the Internet for learning has increased.

In reality, the increasing number of social media platforms has had a significant impact on all aspects of people's lives, especially young people. Besides its many benefits, social media also causes numerous negative consequences regarding ideology, morality, studies, health, and even fraud or pushing young people down the path of violating the law. Therefore, equipping youth union members and young people with the skills to use social media safely and healthily is an extremely necessary issue today.

Lieutenant Colonel Vo Trung Thanh, from the Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of the Da Nang City Police, speaks at the conference. Photo by Dieu Thuy.

At the conference, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Trung Thanh, from the Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of the Da Nang City Police, shared that in Vietnam, 72.7 million people use social media (accounting for 73.3% of the population). Notably, Vietnamese people are increasingly addicted to social media.

"Many young people have a habit of checking their phones every 5-7 minutes to see if there's any 'hot' news or if anyone has messaged them. That's one of the signs of social media addiction," Mr. Thanh said.

According to him, spending too much time on social media negatively impacts work, mental health, reduces interaction with those around you, and diminishes communication skills. Furthermore, there's a risk of bullying, verbal harassment, blackmail, and exposure to harmful online culture. A segment of users, especially young people today, elevate their self-worth through virtual values ​​like likes, views, posting fake images, showing off, making shocking statements and actions, and easily imitating online criminals and gangsters.

Furthermore, the use of social media also leads to the risk of being scammed. Regarding the current alarming state of online fraud, Mr. Thanh stated that, according to statistics from early 2024, nearly $16 billion was lost to online fraud in Vietnam out of a total of $53 billion globally. This enormous loss shows that Vietnam is a low-income area in terms of information awareness and internet usage.

Recounting a real-life case he had handled, Mr. Thanh said that a young woman had been scammed out of a total of 1.15 billion VND online.

"Around 9 a.m. that day, while on duty, we received a phone call from a girl who explained the situation. After listening, we confirmed that she had been scammed out of a total of more than 1 billion VND," Mr. Thanh said.

The training conference on safe and healthy social media use attracted hundreds of youth union members and young people. (Photo: Dieu Thuy)

According to Mr. Thanh, scammers are targeting new victims: the elderly, students, low-income workers, and even children. The reason they target these groups is that while they all have smartphones, their ability to recognize signs and behaviors of fraud is relatively low. Meanwhile, scammers employ psychological tactics that make it difficult for victims to remain alert enough to detect the fraud. This is also why, despite extensive and daily awareness campaigns, people still fall victim to scams.

At the conference, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Trung Thanh shared with students skills in using social media safely and preventing cybercrime, while also guiding them on how to access and use official information on the Internet and social media for healthy learning, research, and entertainment.

"Young people, once they have complete information, should share it with their relatives. The whole society must raise awareness in order to prevent and minimize online fraud," Mr. Thanh said.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/duoc-cong-an-ngan-chan-nhung-khong-nghe-co-gai-bi-lua-dao-mat-hon-1-ty-dong-2347202.html