When orders become a 'bridge' for fraud

In the context of digital transformation, online transactions and online shopping are becoming more and more popular, consumers are familiar with sending and receiving goods through shipping units. In Thai Nguyen province, recently, there has been a situation where bad guys have taken advantage of customer information to scam, causing confusion for people and raising many questions about the responsibility of protecting personal information.

Loading, unloading and transporting goods at Thai Nguyen Provincial Post Office .

One day in mid-June, Ms. LTH, in Tuc Duyen Ward (Thai Nguyen City) went to the Thai Nguyen City Central Post Office to send goods to three friends in Bac Ninh , Nghe An and Thua Thien Hue provinces. Those were small, simple gifts. All procedures were carried out legally, and Ms. H. had paid the shipping costs in full at the post office. It seemed that everything ended there, but just one day later, all three friends suddenly received calls from strange phone numbers: 0984126865; 0903784374; 0328833178. The content of the calls was identical, with an urgent tone: "I have an order sent from Thai Nguyen but need to transfer from 12 to 16 thousand VND in advance to create a warehouse delivery order, this is a new regulation of the post office, if you do not transfer the money, the order will be canceled." A small amount of money, insignificant, but it is easy to make the listener subjective and trusting.

All three of Ms. H.’s friends carefully called Ms. H. back to verify. When they learned that the entire cost had been paid in advance and that there was no provision for collecting additional “out-of-stock” money, they promptly recognized the signs of fraud and did not follow the bad guy’s instructions.

The act of impersonating post office employees to call and collect fees is not new, but the popularity and sophistication of the subjects has increased significantly. By using the trick of taking advantage of the subjective psychology, the subjects often request to transfer small amounts of money, only a few tens of thousands of dong to avoid suspicion. Notably, this trick does not only take place over the phone, but also via text messages, social networking platforms, and even email.

Not only that, some victims in the province also shared with us: After placing orders through some shopping websites (leaving addresses and phone numbers), they received messages and calls impersonating sellers, asking them to click on a link to confirm their orders or upgrade to VIP membership to receive discounts. However, in fact, these are malicious links, designed to steal bank account information or take control of the phone. As a result, some victims lost money in their accounts immediately after accessing strange links, others lost access to social accounts such as Facebook, Zalo and had their nicknames used by scammers to text them to ask for loans in their friends list.

The above incidents not only make people confused but also raise questions: Where did customers' personal information leak from? How do shippers protect customer information? Are shipping units, especially the postal system, which is considered the place to store and protect customer information, really safe enough?

Talking to us, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Ngoc, Deputy Director of Thai Nguyen Provincial Post Office, affirmed: The Post Office does not collect any fees from the recipient until the goods have been delivered. Any calls requesting payment like that are fraudulent impersonation. In response to the above situation, we have deployed software to hide customer information on the internal system, and at the same time do not display the phone numbers of the sender and recipient to avoid being exploited.

It can be seen that the sophistication of scams is putting society in front of information security challenges and this is no longer the story of any individual or organization, but the shared responsibility of the entire digital ecosystem. Transport units need to tighten security procedures, improve inspection and monitoring capacity, especially in the stages of contact with user data.

At the same time, people also need to change their mindset in protecting personal information. Do not share phone numbers, addresses, account information through unofficial platforms, do not transfer money to strangers, do not click on strange links. When receiving calls requesting money transfers, people need to calmly verify the information through official channels before taking action to avoid unnecessary risks.

In this context, the Postal sector not only needs to innovate its technical infrastructure to prevent information leaks, but also needs to be more careful in data storage processes, strengthen internal supervision and take more drastic actions to build a safe, transparent and trustworthy trading environment.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/xa-hoi/202506/khi-don-hang-tro-thanh-cau-noi-lua-dao-cfc308f/