Facebook, Microsoft, and X have sued Vietnamese "tricksters" on numerous occasions.

Big-tech companies have repeatedly accused individuals in Vietnam of using deceptive tactics to abuse platform policies and gain illicit profits.

The workspace of the "tricker" team was revealed by X. Photo: The Independent .

The online money-making (MMO) model has boomed in Vietnam in recent years. Many people have become rich quickly by taking advantage of opportunities from online platforms. However, there have been numerous cases of abuse of policies and illegal tricks being discovered. In the online money-making community, these people are called "trickers," referring to those who use simple tricks to bypass the platforms, rather than sophisticated hacking techniques.

Many Vietnamese individuals have been sued in the US by big-tech companies for abusing their platforms, causing losses amounting to tens of millions of dollars. In addition to foreign companies, Vietnamese authorities have also prosecuted numerous cases involving the use of high technology to misappropriate assets through social media accounts.

Facebook accuses four Vietnamese individuals of causing $36 million in damages.

In June 2021, Meta (then Facebook) filed a lawsuit against four Vietnamese individuals, including Nguyen Them H., Le K., Nguyen Quoc B., and Pham Huu D., for fraud and misappropriation of advertising accounts.

According to Facebook, these four individuals used a technique called "session hijacking" or "cookie hijacking" to infiltrate the accounts of employees at advertising and marketing agencies. After gaining access, they would run unauthorized ads.

Evidence of abuse of Facebook's policies is presented in the filing. Photo: Nhat Minh.

First, this group uploaded fake "Facebook Ads Manager" apps to Google Play and tricked users into downloading them. These fake apps required users to log in to their Facebook Ads account. After obtaining the login information, the group granted permission to fraudulent websites to display ads to users.

Besides defrauding advertising agency employees, this group is accused of supporting online scams. According to Facebook, the estimated value of the illegal advertising run by this group is over $36 million . "Facebook has reimbursed victims and helped them secure their accounts," a Facebook representative wrote in a press release on June 30.

This group then used the stolen postpaid accounts to sell advertising to people in need at a lower price, thereby making illicit profits.

Created 750 million fake Microsoft accounts.

In an article published in December 2023, Microsoft stated that it had tracked down and discovered the Storm-1152 cybercrime group. This organization created websites and social media channels to sell accounts and tools to facilitate phishing and CAPTCHA bypass.

"To date, Storm-1152 has created and sold approximately 750 million fraudulent Microsoft accounts, generating millions of dollars in illegal revenue and costing Microsoft and other companies more to prevent its criminal activity," the company statement said.

After investigation, the company identified several individuals behind the Storm-1152 operation, including Duong Dinh Tu, Linh Van Nguyen (Nguyen Van Linh), and Tai Van Nguyen from Vietnam.

The websites were seized by Microsoft under an order from the Southern District of New York Court. Photo: Microsoft.

"These individuals operated and coded illegal websites, posted detailed step-by-step instructions on how to use their products via video , and provided chat services to support customers using their fraudulent services," Microsoft's website emphasized.

Storm-1152 plays a crucial role in the highly specialized cybercrime ecosystem. Typically, scammers need thousands of accounts to support their criminal activities. Instead of spending time creating them manually, they simply purchase accounts from Storm-1152 or other groups.

"This allows criminals to focus on their primary goals of fraud, spam, ransomware, and other forms of abuse. Storm-1152 and similar organizations enable cybercriminals to act more efficiently and productively," Microsoft announced.

X sues 8 people for creating fake interactions.

In a lawsuit filed with U.S. federal prosecutors, X stated that a "click fraud" operation in Vietnam had abused the platform's user payment policy. Those named in the lawsuit include Le Dinh Chung, Nguyen Nhu Duc, Do Viet Khanh, Nguyen Viet Kieu, Do Xuan Long, Do Minh Thang, Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, and Phan Ngoc Tuan.

A massive "click farm" in Vietnam is accused of illegally profiting from Elon Musk's X platform. Photo: US District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Content from the federal lawsuit filed by X reveals that this clickbait operation was run by a group of eight people in Hanoi . They posted computer-generated content to a network of fake X profiles. These profiles were created using stolen identities "to engage in organized platform manipulation," according to the plaintiffs.

Accounts within this network then interact with each other's content. The ultimate goal is to deceive platform X and generate revenue.

X's complaint did not specify the assets the group had acquired. Evidence from payments shows that money was transferred into at least 125 US bank accounts under false names. These were then transferred to accounts under real names at nine banks in Vietnam, involving over 1,700 individual transactions.

Source: https://znews.vn/nhieu-lan-facebook-microsoft-x-kien-tricker-viet-nam-post1556441.html