5 Phone Scams You Need to Know
These tricks are as old as time but still trap many people, especially women and the elderly. Some victims lost billions of dong after just one phone call.
Recently, these tricks have started to flare up again. Below are 5 phone scams that you must read, don't forget to share with family members, especially women and the elderly.
Notice of phone debt
This type of scammer often uses voicemail or calls directly to landline numbers to remind customers of large debt amounts, demanding immediate payment or else the service will be temporarily disconnected and a lawsuit will be filed.
More sophisticatedly, they also use VNPT's sales number 18001166 to easily gain customers' trust.
VNPT representative warned that VNPT's number 18001166 is a telephone sales switchboard, only receiving incoming calls and never making outgoing calls. Therefore, all calls to landline debt reminders displaying the number 18001166 are fake.
If you have any doubts, report to the police immediately. Do not try to handle it yourself because you can easily fall into the trap of criminals.
Police announcement regarding money laundering
Fraudsters often call people claiming to be police officers or prosecutors, informing them that they are involved in a large drug trafficking and money laundering ring, and requesting money transfers to assist in the investigation. Failure to do so will result in imprisonment.
More sophisticated, they do not need to identify themselves but give their phone number and tell the victim to call the hotline 1080 directly to know who they are.
In fact, in both this case and the phone debt notice, they used software to simulate phone numbers that were identical to those of the authorities.
Believing the words and fearing going to jail, many gullible and ignorant people fell into the trap.
In this case, people do not need to think but hang up immediately because this is a scam.
“First, telephone companies only send letters to notify of debt, not using voicemail. Second, when the police work, they will have an invitation letter stating the time and location, and people will come directly to the police agency or headquarters to work. Third, the police never ask for money to be transferred to personal accounts,” Lieutenant Colonel Le Minh Le, captain of the District 3 Police Synthesis Team, affirmed.
Relatives of the victim
These people often call at night to inform their relatives (husband, wife, children, etc.) that they are in trouble, and ask them to come immediately. The place of notification is usually a remote, deserted area. They will lie in wait to rob the property.
If this happens, call your loved one's family and friends immediately. If you are too worried about your loved one to call them, ask a few other people to join you. Do not update anyone on your whereabouts.
Scam to win prizes over the phone
One fine day, you suddenly receive a notification via Facebook message or phone call about winning a SH motorbike, an iPhone, or hundreds of millions of dong in cash even though you never participated in any lucky draw program... You only have to deposit an amount of about 3 million dong in tax or a high-value phone card to receive the prize. Don't worry, you've been scammed!
Please consult information carefully, from many sources (Internet, friends, ask carefully about the address of the awarding agency, the address of the awarding agency, etc.). You can ask an acquaintance living near the above address to confirm whether the company exists or not, whether the winning customer information has your name, etc. Even just a few simple steps: type in the phone number, this address, a series of previous fraud warning information will appear. Absolutely do not hand over money to the subject through the form of card top-up, money transfer via bank account.
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A group of foreign fraudsters were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Quoc Thang. |
Many victims fall for this old trick. They often pretend to be foreigners, living in the UK or the US, to find, get to know, and flirt with many women.
After a period of "love", they will generously offer to send a box of goods worth hundreds of millions of dong (including shoes, handbags, jewelry, phones, iPads, USD...).
Next, a Vietnamese person pretending to be a post office delivery employee called directly to request that the fee be transferred to the bank account to receive the goods.
Finally, they were asked to pay a fine to receive the goods with all sorts of reasons: the box with money was held by customs…. Trusting, the victims continued to pay money in the hope of getting the goods, but unexpectedly fell into the trap: money lost, love broken.
On July 31, 2017, Mr. NTL (24 years old, Hau Giang) received a phone call from a woman asking him to pay a fee of more than 18 million VND to receive a box of goods from Graham Bond (living in London, Mr. L met through social networks). Mr. L went to BIDV bank in District 3 to deposit money but did not receive the goods, so he went to CAP8Q3 to report. Through investigation, CAQ3 identified Nguyen Tuan Anh (19 years old, Ward 6Q11) as the person who opened the account at BIDV bank for the foreigners. On September 15, 2017, CAQ3 arrested Graham Bond, whose real name is Okwudilichukwu Chinedu Timothy (27 years old, QT: Nigeria, Tan Hung Thuan Ward, District 12). Through the investigation, Timothy confessed that he and his Nigerian accomplices had colluded with Vietnamese people to commit fraud and appropriation of property by making friends on Facebook, making acquaintances, seducing them emotionally, and sending gifts to defraud them. Timothy admitted that he and his accomplices had defrauded victims in Vietnam of more than 94,000 USD and over 1 billion VND. District 3 Police are continuing to investigate. |
According to PLO
