Cryptocurrency investment scams are resurging, with many people losing billions of dong.

Taking advantage of people's greed and lack of knowledge, scammers use deceptive tactics to entice financial investments, especially in cryptocurrencies, with promises of credibility and huge profits. Many people have been scammed out of billions of dong.

Many people have been scammed out of billions of dong when participating in cryptocurrency investments - Photo: TU TRUNG

From stories of people getting rich quickly and making huge profits in a short period of time, which are passed around by word of mouth on social media... social network Regarding financial investments, especially cryptocurrency trading – often colloquially known as virtual currency – many users have nurtured dreams and sought opportunities to get rich online. Taking advantage of this mindset, scammers have launched various schemes to trap them.

Investing in cryptocurrency, scammed out of billions of dong.

Accidentally added to a group called "Finance in the Modern Era" on the Telegram app, Ms. V. ( Hanoi ) was introduced to a series of attractive financial investment activities that many people were participating in. Among them was investing in cryptocurrencies through an exchange called Bitforex.

Observing the group, Ms. V. noticed many others participating, and many even boasted about the huge profits they had earned from investing according to the advice of the "experts" in the group. Driven by a desire to get rich quickly, Ms. V. continuously transferred money to invest in cryptocurrencies as instructed by the "experts" in the group.

When it was time to take profits, Ms. V. sold the virtual currency she had bought, but suddenly the system displayed an error message. She was then instructed by "experts" that she had to pay various taxes, fees, insurance, etc., before she could withdraw her money. By the time she realized she had been scammed, the amount of money Ms. V. had sent to the fraudsters had reached 2.3 billion VND.

In another case, while using the dating app Tinder, Ms. T. (Hanoi) recounted meeting a man who claimed to be a "doctor at a major hospital" in Singapore. After chatting for a while and gaining Ms. T.'s trust, the doctor invited her to participate in cryptocurrency trading.

Ms. T. said that she deposited 20 million VND the first time and immediately withdrew 30 million VND. She then deposited another 266 million VND and withdrew 304 million VND. After only two deposits, Ms. T. had made a profit of 48 million VND in just two days. Seeing how lucrative the opportunity was, Ms. T. continued to deposit 300 million VND and received a notification that her account had won 10.1 billion VND, but she was unable to withdraw the money.

The system notified Ms. T. that she "must pay 20% of her profits as personal income tax." Thinking she was about to get rich, Ms. T. immediately paid 1.7 billion VND in personal income tax. Then, she paid another 2 billion VND for account verification to withdraw the money and 1.4 billion VND to participate in the quick withdrawal program. However, Ms. T. still couldn't withdraw the money. Ms. T. stated that she transferred a total of 5.4 billion VND to the system in just 5 days.

According to security experts, the increasing number of users participating in online dating apps has created fertile ground for scammers. Through online dating apps like Tinder, EzMatch, Lit Match, Hullo..., scammers befriend their victims, chat with them, and build trust.

Next, they will shift to financial topics, encouraging participation in attractive investment projects. If naive enough to pay, the victim will be promised interest immediately after the first investment to increase trust. "Once the victim invests a significant amount of money, the scammers will create numerous excuses such as: upgrading to a VIP package, returning investment support funds, removing security features, system errors... to seize the assets," a specialist warned.

Beware of deceptive offers and scams.

Information from the Hanoi Police indicates that they have received numerous reports from people who were scammed out of money through online financial investments. Many people were defrauded of sums ranging from several billion to tens of billions of dong. The largest amount lost by a single individual reached 57 billion dong. According to the police, the scammers continuously advertise, entice, and lure people into participating in online business activities and transactions involving virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies through exchanges and websites they create.

A team of "employees" will constantly call and entice "investors" to join advisory groups and exchange information via Zalo, Telegram, etc. They even impersonate financial experts, stockbrokers, or representatives of reputable brokerage firms to easily lure "prey" into Facebook, Telegram, and Zalo groups and participate in trading platforms they create.

Scammers advertise their trading platforms with promises of high returns, even providing fabricated evidence of profits from previous investors. After attracting a large number of investors and collecting their money, the virtual trading platform will close down or disappear, leaving investors with all their invested funds.

Many scam groups also employ tactics such as organizing conferences and seminars to subtly promote international stocks, cryptocurrencies, and digital currencies. The promise of exceptionally high returns compared to the market and easy withdrawal of capital and profits are constantly used by these scammers to lure people and investors.

In light of this situation, the Information Security Department ( Ministry of Information and Communications ) advises people to be cautious when being offered investment opportunities in international stocks, cryptocurrencies, and digital currencies, especially if they lack knowledge in finance and securities. People should carefully review feedback and reviews from previous users about their experiences with the trading platforms, financial companies, and securities firms they are interested in investing in.

In addition, people and investors should seek advice from experts and lawyers before investing to avoid losing money to fraudulent investment platforms and companies. "People should only trade on platforms licensed by the authorities. Especially, people should not share information about fraudulent platforms." personal information "For anyone under any circumstances, do not download apps from unknown sources or click on suspicious links," the agency warned.

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