A student in Ho Chi Minh City was scammed online for 1.1 billion VND.

Being manipulated and threatened by scammers, a student at a university in Ho Chi Minh City repeatedly asked his family to transfer 1.1 billion VND.

Hackers have many sophisticated tricks to infiltrate users' bank accounts and social networks - Photo: PHUONG QUYEN

Speaking to Tuoi Tre Online , Ms. T., the student’s parent, said the money was gone, and she did not blame her child or the school. She just hoped the information would reach more people to prevent risks from this scam.

Continuous money transfer

Ms. T. said that M. - her son - was a first-year student at RMIT University in Ho Chi Minh City. That day, near the end of the afternoon, her son called to say that the school had sent an email about the student exchange program from January 6, M. was one of 20 students selected.

"However, because M. was busy doing homework, he forgot to check. Today was the deadline for the procedure, so he asked me to transfer 250 million VND into his account to prove his financial status. He just needed to have enough money in his account for them to see. I trusted him, so I transferred it," Ms. T. recounted.

However, M. then continued to call his family to request a transfer of 500 million VND, and then reported transferring an additional 250 million VND for living expenses. His family suspected something was wrong, so they told him to go to school to check again. However, it was 4:00 p.m. and M. said that the teachers were about to leave because their working hours were over.

Ms. T. asked her son to go to the school's finance office so she could talk to someone from the school. M. agreed and gave the phone to someone who claimed to be "Mr. Khang, a staff member from the finance office" to talk.

After this conversation, the family continued to transfer money to their child. "After that, my child asked to transfer more money, with one reason after another. I asked him if he was sure he had gone to the finance department, and he said: I was in the finance department, the teachers guided me. The total amount the family transferred was 1.1 billion VND" - Ms. T. said.

In fact, recently, many universities in Ho Chi Minh City have issued warnings about fraudulent scholarship and student exchange programs that impersonate the school. These notices have been sent to many students.

Trap scenario

Even though the money had been transferred, feeling something was wrong, that night the family asked the child to show the account, the child said that he had transferred the money to the school's financial certificate book, and would pay it back in 24 hours. "When I asked more, the child begged his parents not to ask about this anymore, and that he would tell them the whole truth in 72 hours. I knew I had been scammed, but my child was so panicked that I didn't dare ask anymore" - Ms. T. said.

The next day, her child continued to go to school and the same scenario repeated itself, the child again offered to transfer 250 million VND. Ms. T. said she would go to school, M. said she didn't have time. Now that she knew she had been tricked, Ms. T. told her child that if she didn't have time, she wouldn't go.

"I went to the exchange school and learned that many other students of the school also received notice about this student exchange program and that it was a scam.

Finally, I found out the truth that my child did all of the above things alone at the motel under the guidance of the scam organization. They prepared a script and manipulated my child's psychology to make him obediently follow it in a very scared state" - Ms. T. said.

When the incident broke out, M. said he received an email with a red-stamped arrest warrant from the Ministry of Public Security because M. was involved in a fraud ring. Then someone continuously called M., giving her the correct ID number, name, email address, and threatened to extradite her to Hanoi to serve her sentence, threatening to harm her parents. M. was scared and panicked, so she followed the scenario given by the scammers.

"I lost money, but I just considered it a lesson and didn't scold my child. The lesson is that parents trust their children too much," Ms. T. added.

Scam warning for students

Regarding the case of students being scammed online, the leadership of RMIT University Vietnam said that ensuring student safety is always the school's top priority.

According to the university, the university has been alerting students to the increased scams through its bi-weekly student email newsletter since November 2024. There is also an information page providing online safety education to students. Unfortunately, such scams are not only targeting RMIT students but also students from other universities.

"To avoid falling into the trap of scammers, we have recommended that students: only make payments through official channels listed on the school's website. Check tuition fees through myRMIT, RMIT University's official student management portal. Only trust exchange programs and scholarships announced on RMIT University's official website. Protect personal information, including student ID numbers. We are committed to always updating information and ensuring the safety of our students," the school representative added.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-sinh-vien-o-tp-hcm-bi-lua-dao-qua-mang-1-1-ti-dong-202501180906483.htm