Male student was psychologically manipulated, lost money unjustly because of the message "so lonely!"

(Dan Tri) - The trick of taking advantage of other people's sympathy is mentioned as one of the reasons why many male students fall into scam traps and lose money unjustly.

When “loneliness” becomes a scam bait

Captain Huynh Do Tan Thinh, Special Police Team, Criminal Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police, warned about sophisticated scams and scenarios targeting young people, especially students, at the seminar "Identifying and combating fake news in the AI ​​era" held this morning (November 6) at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport.

A common situation is that a bad guy sends a message to get to know you with touching content like: "I just moved to the city, I'm so lonely, can we get to know each other?", along with his phone number.

When the victim responds, the subject gradually builds trust with messages, pictures, and videos . Therefore, many male students are "emotionally manipulated" and lose money to scammers.

Captain Huynh Do Tan Thinh, Special Police Team, Criminal Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police shared with students about increasingly diverse and sophisticated fraud methods (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

Captain Thinh emphasized that scammers always rely on social psychological factors, safety needs, emotions, material things, etc. to carry out their actions.

Some other forms of fraud pointed out by the speaker include the "easy job, high salary" trick, recruiting attractive jobs, requiring payment of fees; spreading malicious links/messages about gambling games, or malware sent via text messages to take control of the phone, collect data to continue defrauding people in the contact list...

Mr. Nguyen Duc Chien, Secretary of the Youth Union of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, shared that the school had recorded a case of forged scholarship documents.

The document was presented very professionally, with logos and standard administrative language, making many students believe it was real, even in some cases almost transferring money to "pay the scholarship fee".

“As soon as it was discovered, the school verified, worked with the relevant authorities and issued an emergency warning on the entire official information system. At the same time, it affirmed that all school announcements would only be published on the website and internal channels,” Mr. Chien shared.

More than 1,000 students from Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport participated in the discussion (Photo: Organizing Committee).

Meanwhile, Mr. Vo Do Thang, Director of Athena Cyber ​​Security Center, shared a story about a business leader who lost nearly one billion VND because of sophisticated control through AI tricks.

According to Mr. Thang, the victim was the person who managed billion-dollar projects with international partners. One day, he discovered that his image had been edited with defamatory content. The bad guys then contacted him, threatening to release the clip to foreign partners if they did not send him ransom money.

Too panicked, this leader transferred money many times, from 50 million to hundreds of millions of dong each time to bad guys.

Mr. Thang commented that the other chairman was an experienced person, good at finance, and knowledgeable about the market, but when faced with a crisis of honor and images faked by AI, he completely collapsed psychologically.

The expert analyzed that this incident was not just a financial scam, but also a targeted psychological attack, carefully prepared using AI technology.

“Criminals followed him for a long time, knew his relationships, projects and psychological weaknesses. They used deepfake technology (fake with artificial intelligence) to create fake images and sounds, preying on the fear of losing reputation and honor - the thing that makes business people most vulnerable,” he analyzed.

Create real news to fight fake news

To distinguish between real and fake information and avoid being scammed, Captain Huynh Do Tan Thinh said that students need to practice the habit of receiving official information, instead of depending on social networking platforms.

From the reality of the investigation, Captain Thinh warned that much fake news and false news originate from short video platforms. In addition, consuming too many short videos makes viewers think quickly but shallowly, easily manipulated emotionally and difficult to distinguish between real and fake.

Short videos touch emotions but make people lazy to think. Over time, users get used to the simplification of information and lose the ability to debate.

Warning students about sharing information on social networks, Captain Huynh Do Tan Thinh said that in cyberspace, there is no concept of "completely deleting" information. Once data has been posted, it will leave a "digital trace" that will last forever and can be retrieved at any time.

According to Mr. Thinh, when users delete posts or images, it is only a local deletion, meaning it is deleted from their own personal page. In fact, the data is still stored in the system of social networking platforms. If the authorities, especially the high-tech crime prevention force, conduct a search, all information can be restored.

"Users often think that deleting a post will end the problem, but in reality, the longer the information has spread, the harder it is to control and the more serious the consequences," Captain Thinh emphasized.

Mr. Vo Do Thang believes that to fight fake news, first of all, each person needs to know how to create real news and real value for themselves (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

Mr. Vo Do Thang believes that to fight fake news, first of all, each person needs to know how to create real news and real value for themselves.

According to him, people need to learn how to proactively create real values. When they have real values ​​and real abilities, each individual will have the ability to resist fake information. "If we only passively consume information, we will only see fake all day, and gradually become fake, living in a feeling of frustration and pressure."

Mr. Thang also emphasized that during the 4 years of university, students should take advantage of social networks to build their own professional channels. Many recruiting units today also check the social networks of candidates.

“If your Facebook page has nothing to do with your expertise, you only post pictures of yourself playing games or inappropriate content, then your profile is considered worthless. In that case, we will eliminate you right from the first round,” Mr. Thang said.

At the end of the sharing, Mr. Vo Do Thang affirmed: "When we have real value, real products, and real capacity profiles, that is the best way to fight fake news and affirm our own value."

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nam-sinh-vien-bi-thao-tung-tam-ly-mat-tien-oan-vi-tin-nhan-co-don-qua-20251106152316109.htm