Online scams:

With just one click, a seemingly harmless text message or a phone call that sounded like it was from a relative, many people lost all their savings over many years.

Despite a series of warnings, online fraud continues to increase with an incredibly sophisticated level. The seemingly familiar tricks are now "dressed up" with high technology and the ability to exploit human psychology at an alarming level.

Thanh Xuan Bac Ward Police (Thanh Xuan District) work with a victim of fraud.

The trap called "false trust"

On June 13, 2025, Ms. LTT (45 years old, in Long Bien district, Hanoi ) received a call from a person claiming to be a shipper delivering goods to her office. Because she had previously ordered dried mangoes from Khanh Hoa, she did not suspect anything. The delivery person asked her to transfer 15,000 VND in advance for "return shipping fee". After Ms. T. transferred the money, the subject continued to call back, informing her that she had accidentally "registered to become a delivery staff" and would be automatically deducted 3.5 million VND per month if she did not cancel the order. Along with that was a link sent to "cancel registration". Luckily, Ms. T. was suspicious and did not click on the link.

Just 3 days later, Ms. T.'s mother, Ms. D.TM (69 years old), became the victim of another, more sophisticated trick. After clicking on a link to a music program on Facebook, her account was hijacked. The scammer immediately used this account, and at the same time created a fake account impersonating her daughter to send messages to borrow money, with the reason "account locked, urgently need 100 million VND". Fortunately, right when Ms. M. was about to transfer the money, her daughter suddenly returned, promptly stopping the incident. However, the subject still did not stop, continuing to imitate Ms. M.'s voice through Deepvoice technology, calling to trick her niece into borrowing 30 million VND. However, the niece was alert, went to the house to verify, so she did not lose money unjustly.

Not as lucky as Mrs. M. and her son, Ms. P. (48 years old, in Cau Giay district, Hanoi) lost more than 600 million VND due to a phone call impersonating a shipper on June 11, 2025. After transferring 16,000 VND for "shipping fee", she continued to receive a notification about "registering the wrong delivery account" and was threatened with monthly deductions. In a state of panic, she followed the instructions to "undo the transaction", resulting in transferring more than 600 million VND to the subject's account. Only then did she realize she had been scammed and immediately reported it to the police.

According to Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Dao Trung Hieu, Department of Public Security Communications ( Ministry of Public Security ), the scams are not new. They only change the form of expression, from traditional phone calls and text messages to fake applications, Deepfake (fake images) or Deepvoice (fake voices). All exploit three human weaknesses: greed, fear and ignorance. In particular, the subjects are increasingly professional in creating psychological scenarios, putting the victims in a state of panic or blind trust. Taking advantage of family relationships, familiar voices or impersonating public authorities to pressure the victims to act quickly, without time to check the authenticity.

Where does the vulnerability come from?

According to a report from the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (Ministry of Public Security), in 2024, the authorities detected and handled more than 11,000 cases related to fraud and property appropriation online, an increase of nearly 30% compared to 2023. There are at least 24 common forms of fraud in circulation, from impersonating police and courts, virtual investment fraud, to sending fake links to banks, insurance, reward fraud and even "helping to get back the money that was scammed" - a form of "fraud on top of fraud" that is spreading.

Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh, Director of Minh Bach Law Firm, said that the cause of this situation is due to the laxity in managing user identities of key organizations such as banks and network operators. Many bank accounts are currently still opened with fake documents, through intermediaries, or even openly bought and sold on social networks. Meanwhile, phone SIMs - the key to verifying OTP - are still easily registered with false identities or "bought with nice numbers" without careful authentication. When criminals have bank accounts and junk SIMs, they can completely create a "virtual but real" identity to appropriate assets.

"It is time for banks and network operators to take action beyond warning. Tightening the account registration process, preventing unusual transactions, screening fake accounts, blocking junk SIM cards and closely cooperating with investigative agencies are requirements that cannot be delayed," said Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh.

To avoid online scams, Hanoi City Police recommend that people do not transfer money before directly receiving the ordered goods and verifying the information carefully. In addition, absolutely do not log in to links sent by strangers to avoid falling into scams. Currently, postal and delivery businesses all have websites and applications to look up bill of lading information. Therefore, people should proactively access to track the route of the order, ensuring that the order is correct before receiving the goods. When being scammed or having their property stolen, people need to go to the nearest police station to report for timely support.

In an age where technology can “fake” everything from faces, voices to identities, trust is the most easily stolen asset. To protect yourself, everyone should slow down a beat. Because just one second of carelessness can lead to a lifetime of regret.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/lua-dao-online-sap-bay-du-chieu-cu-vo-moi-706435.html