Scams are surrounding the people.

BE CAREFUL WITH FUTURE MONEY TRANSFER ORDERS

Recently, the Thanh Hoa Provincial Police arrested two suspects: Pham Van Dong (26 years old, residing in Hoang Dieu Ward, Thai Binh City, Thai Binh Province) and Tran Minh Hieu (26 years old, residing in Dong Hoa Commune, Thai Binh City) to investigate their involvement in fraud and appropriation of property.

Previously, Dong and Hieu rode their motorbike to shops in Trieu Son and Dong Son districts ( Thanh Hoa province ). When buying goods, Dong and Hieu asked the shop owners to exchange bank transfer money for cash. The suspects used their bank accounts to create future money transfer orders (not immediate transfers). After creating the order, they pressed the transfer button. The banking app reported that the money had been successfully transferred, but the next day, because the account had no funds, the bank could not execute the transfer order, and therefore the recipient would not receive the money. Using this method, Dong and Hieu committed numerous scams in the two aforementioned districts.

Lực lượng của Công an tỉnh Thanh Hóa tuyên truyền cho người dân về các thủ đoạn lừa đảo trên không gian mạng — The Thanh Hoa Provincial Police force is raising awareness among the public about online fraud schemes.

THE PHONE CALL COST… OVER 200 MILLION VND

Another type of scam has a completely new tactic, where fraudsters can easily trick people using only a phone. On the afternoon of March 12th, a man called Ms. LTY, the owner of Thien Bao gold and silver shop (in Yen Cat town, Nhu Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province), identifying himself as Duy and asking to buy 3 gold bars for 209 million VND. The man then added Ms. Y. as a friend on Zalo and asked her to deliver the gold to Ms. NTH, the owner of Hoa Phi gold and silver shop (also located in Yen Cat town).

At the same time, Ms. NTH received a phone call from a man who identified himself as Duy, saying he needed to sell Ms. H. 3 gold bars for 203 million VND. The man named Duy told Ms. H. that the gold was being kept at Ms. Y.'s house and asked her to go to Ms. Y.'s house to pick it up.

The news turned out to be true, so Ms. H. went to Ms. Y.'s house to get the gold, and Ms. Y. trusted her and handed over the gold. Afterwards, Ms. H. transferred 203 million VND to a man named Duy via the bank account he provided.

Regarding Ms. Y., after delivering the goods but waiting a long time without receiving the money from the man named Duy, she called Ms. H. to clarify. Ms. H. said she had already transferred the full amount for the gold to the man named Duy. At this point, both Ms. H. and Ms. Y. realized they had been scammed and filed a report with the police.

Using a similar tactic, at the end of March, the director of a company in Quang Xuong District (Thanh Hoa Province) was tricked by fraudsters into selling steel and lost 494 million VND.

I was scammed because I thought a colleague wanted to borrow money.

Recently, a scam involving the theft of money targeted officials in Ninh Binh province. The incident occurred on the afternoon of April 9th, when the Zalo accounts of two officials working at two state agencies in Ninh Binh province sent messages to almost everyone in their phone's contact list, asking for loans.

According to preliminary statistics from the Ninh Binh Provincial Police, a Zalo account belonging to an official was used to send messages to many colleagues in the same agency, asking for loans. One colleague transferred 90 million VND; another transferred 30 million VND; and many others transferred between 5 and 6 million VND to the Zalo account, which they believed belonged to a colleague. The total amount transferred by the officials was nearly 200 million VND. Another official's Zalo account also received transfers totaling nearly 180 million VND from colleagues.

Later, the lenders inquired among themselves about why their colleagues were asking for loans so frequently, only to be shocked to discover that their colleagues' Zalo accounts had been hacked. What led many to believe the scam was that the bank account the scammer provided to receive the money had the same name as the officials whose Zalo accounts had been hacked. Therefore, many believed it was real and were deceived. The case is currently under investigation by the Ninh Binh Provincial Police.

Major Nguyen Van Nam, Deputy Head of the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department (Ninh Binh Provincial Police), said that recently, the situation of crimes and violations of the law in cyberspace in Ninh Binh province has become increasingly complex, with increasingly sophisticated methods and tactics, and causing significant damage, which is causing public concern.

"The perpetrators often exploit the guise of employees of securities companies, banks, telecommunications companies, etc., to request people to provide personal information. They then use the provided personal information to infiltrate phone systems, instructing victims to transfer money out of their accounts. In addition, there are some high-tech criminal tactics where perpetrators use malware to infiltrate phone systems, stealing people's personal information, leading to the leakage, theft, and loss of personal data, especially bank account information. Simultaneously, criminals hack, infiltrate, gain control of accounts, and send fraudulent messages to acquaintances, friends, and relatives...", Major Nam stated.

Warning: 24 types of scams

In order to prevent online scams and help people be aware and vigilant, the Ninh Binh Provincial Police recently issued a warning about 24 types of scams, including:

1. Impersonating police, prosecutor's office, or court officials.

2. Deepfake and deepvoice video calls.

3/ Affordable travel packages

4. Impersonating an insurance company.

5. Impersonating medical staff to inform relatives that they are in the emergency room.

6. Impersonating a financial company.

7. Impersonating traffic enforcement officers.

8. Falsifying successful money transfer receipts.

9. Impersonating provincial, departmental, or agency leaders.

10. Online collaborator recruitment scams.

11/ Online buying and selling

12. Scams seeking work-from-home workers.