Impersonating police units and running fraudulent ads on Facebook.

Recently, some Facebook users in Vietnam have reported seeing advertisements from a fan page called "Cybersecurity and Crime Prevention Department - Ministry of Public Security " posting content calling for cooperation in combating cybercrime and advising people to contact the page, accompanied by images of ministry leaders. However, Thanh Nien newspaper 's investigation revealed that this is fraudulent content created and run by individuals behind the scenes to target victims.

Specifically, most of the fake fan pages (using the names mentioned or very similar ones, intentionally causing confusion) were created in December 2023, using profile pictures and cover pages related to police units. The fan page information uses the address of the Ministry of Public Security, attaching a link (which is inaccessible), however, the contact email address ends in "gmail" (Google's free email service).

Một fanpage lừa đảo xuất hiện gần đây chạy quảng cáo để tìm "con mồi" trên Facebook — A recently emerged fraudulent fan page running ads to find "victims" on Facebook.

They continuously posted articles warning about scams from mainstream media outlets, as well as sharing instructions on how to identify scams, aiming to build trust when "victims" accessed the fan page to verify the information. Images of leaders from the Ministry and its affiliated units were also used for this purpose. In the comments section, the fan page owner hid all the posts to conceal the fact that some savvy users had reported them.

When accessing the fan page's ad library, users can see campaigns running on the Facebook platform with content such as "If you know you've been scammed, quickly gather evidence and contact us immediately. We have staff ready to provide emergency assistance." In the image used in the advertisement, the text "Minister of Public Security combating all types of cybercrime" is intentionally misspelled and uses an incorrect font to bypass automated censorship tools and avoid copyright or sensitive content detection.

According to those familiar with Facebook, these fan pages were created by ordinary users running advertising campaigns, and there is ample basis to conclude that they are fake pages created for fraudulent purposes, such as spelling errors, being newly created, posting continuously, and using free email addresses/personal mobile phone numbers.

"Users should avoid contacting such fan pages because the scammers behind them have prepared a script to extract personal information, including sensitive data such as bank account details. They systematically manipulate victims' psychology to build trust with the sole purpose of fraud," a specialist warned. Furthermore, the perpetrators may also trick victims into installing malware disguised as applications from organizations or government agencies onto their personal devices, then gain control of the device to steal information and finances.

Recently, the number of fraudulent advertisements, gambling, betting, and pornography on Facebook has been increasing. Many inappropriate content items are openly displayed. Even more seriously, pornographic videos consistently receive thousands, even tens of thousands, of live views.

Despite numerous complaints from users and Vietnamese media, the world's largest social network seems to be neglecting the management of content and advertising, or using ineffective preventative measures. Many users report that their personal pages constantly display offensive advertisements unrelated to their needs, while clicking "Report Bad Content" is "hopeless," with no sign of stopping.

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