Many types of scams by "ghost shippers"

As online shopping booms, customers and shippers (delivery people) become familiar. However, behind that convenience lies a worrying reality as fraud by impersonating shippers becomes increasingly sophisticated.

One of the most common scams is to force the recipient to accept the goods. The scammer often uses urgent words to create urgency so that the other party does not have time to check. People have to pay for a worthless item or worse, do not receive any item even though they have transferred the money. This trick plays on the impatient psychology, making the victim easily fall into the trap.

Fraudulent shipper message sent to Ms. PN Photo: PHUONG LAN

Another “trick” is to ask for a transfer of money before receiving the goods. Mr. P.D.L, a resident of Binh Duc ward, recounted: “I ordered an anti-theft camera online, a few days later the shipper called and asked me to transfer 50,000 VND in advance for insurance. I was surprised because there was never such a fee before, so I refused. After that, I checked the order again and saw that it was still pending processing. It was clearly a scam.”

In particular, the scam is even more sophisticated when the bad guys impersonate the shipper, notify that the goods have been delivered, and ask the buyer to transfer money. The story of Ms. NPN, living in An Chau commune, is a typical example. “Last week, the shipper called to deliver the order to me. I asked carefully about the order information, and asked someone at home to send it for me. Still not sure, I checked the order information again, saw that it was the product I ordered, so I subjectively transferred money to the shipper without contacting the acquaintance to confirm first.”

Immediately after transferring the money, Ms. PN received a strange message claiming to be from "DBV Insurance Group" with very detailed and professional content: "Dear customers. We would like to inform you that your cargo insurance contract registration has been recorded. Contract code DBV-CT/AG045/HH, insurance period: From August 11, 2025 to August 11, 2028. Periodic insurance fee: 4 million VND/month; total contract renewal fee for 3 years is 144 million VND. During the transportation process (including delivery and receipt - for shippers), the damage compensation is up to 110% of the value of each order. The contract will be officially activated within 24 hours from the time of transaction. Please check all the registered information to ensure your insurance benefits. For any questions, please contact a consultant for quick support. fast

Before Ms. PN could understand what was going on, a strange phone number called, claiming to be an insurance consultant, asking about the contract she had just “activated”. Ms. PN confirmed that she had only transferred money to buy goods and had not registered to buy insurance. The other person immediately said: “Then you should contact the shipper to request to cancel that insurance package”. Ms. PN called the shipper back but could not get through. Immediately after that, the consultant called again and asked that if she wanted to cancel, she had to provide her photo and ID number so that they could enter the cancellation file.

After a few minutes of calm, Ms. PN realized that this was a scammer's trick. When she said she would report it to the police, the other end of the line hung up and never called again. Ms. PN recounted: “Just because of a moment of carelessness, I almost fell into the scammer's trap. They knew that I had transferred money, and used that information to create a new scam scenario. If I had followed their lead, I would have lost not just a few hundred thousand dong but all the money in my bank account.”

When faced with the above situations, the most important thing is that everyone needs to stay calm. Before receiving the goods, always carefully check the order information such as the order number and product name. In addition, do not transfer money before receiving the goods, unless you completely trust the seller. When the shipper requests, refuse directly. If possible, check the goods before paying. In the situation where the shipper refuses to check the goods, the buyer is allowed to refuse to receive.

The scams of fake shippers not only cause financial losses but also cause confusion for consumers. To protect ourselves, we need to be vigilant, learn and understand the scams. Always check carefully, follow the principle of "pay upon receipt", and immediately report suspicious cases for timely handling by the authorities.

PHUONG LAN

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/muon-kieu-lua-dao-cua-shipper-ma--a427077.html