Being scammed for buying foreign travel tickets online

Although the situation of property fraud through Facebook and some forums has been handled and warned by authorities, many people are still trapped.

Illustration: DAD

According to Tuoi Tre's investigation, websites and Facebook pages... have been posted by some individuals offering to book tickets to visit amusement parks and entertainment areas in Singapore at cheap prices.

When customers need to book tickets, they will contact by phone or email: ticketssingapore@..., Facebook account to send information (number of people, visit time, phone number...) to the subject.

After receiving the customer's request, the subjects gave the ticket price and provided bank account information for the buyer to send payment and notify the customer of the time to deliver the ticket. However, upon receiving the money, the subjects cut off contact and did not deliver the ticket as agreed.

Cheap ham

Through the Facebook page “Universal Studio Singapore tickets - Singapore travel information”, Ms. LTBY (living in Thanh Xuan Ward, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) contacted two phone numbers 0902086... and 01223717... to book cheap Singapore travel tickets. Ms. Y. then transferred more than 11 million VND to two accounts under the name of the taxpayer and the consumer.

After transferring the money, the subject did not provide tickets and cut off all contact.

Similarly, Mr. NKP (residing in District 12) purchased tickets via email address: ticketssingapore@... and communicated via the two phone numbers above. Mr. P. transferred 5.3 million VND to the account also under the name of the taxpayer. After receiving the money, the subjects disappeared.

Ms. NHM (living in Ward 2, Binh Thanh District), an employee of the International Software Development Company, was also scammed by subjects using similar tricks.

According to the investigation, the taxpayer is a permanent resident of Binh Tan District (HCMC) and a temporary resident of Duc Hoa (Long An). T. is the person who opened accounts at two banks to receive money from customers who purchased tickets to visit entertainment areas in Singapore.

T.'s transactions at banks were mostly "payment for tickets to visit tourist attractions in Singapore" with a total amount of more than 300 million VND. The total transactions of T.'s two accounts were nearly 2.3 billion VND.

NNT is also the registered owner of phone number 01223717... This is the phone number posted on classifieds sites and forums to contact customers for the purpose of fraud.

Also participating in T.'s business deals was NTND (female). D. lives in Hanoi and has a bank account. D.'s account received nearly 10 million VND that Ms. Y. had tricked into transferring.

Violation is handled there

According to lawyers, the subjects' behavior shows signs of violating Article 226b of the 1999 Penal Code, amended and supplemented in 2009, on the crime of "using computer networks, telecommunications networks, the Internet or digital devices to commit acts of property appropriation."

According to lawyer Tran Giang Huong (head of Tam Da law office), based on Clause 4, Article 10 of Circular 10-2012 guiding the application of the Penal Code on a number of crimes in the field of information technology and telecommunications, the act of "advertising for sale on the Internet, telecommunications network but not delivering goods or delivering the wrong quantity, type, or quality lower than advertised goods and similar acts of advertising" is handled according to Article 226b, with the highest sentence being life imprisonment.

Many victims wonder where to report the incident after being scammed to get help. A lawyer said that based on the characteristics of high-tech crimes, when discovering the main subject residing in a locality, they often coordinate with that locality to proceed with the handling.

In this case, the subject NNT resides in Long An, so according to the law, the investigation agency in Long An will handle it.

However, through investigation, the police and the People's Procuracy of Long An province said that although the subject was living in Long An province, the documents did not show that the subject's crime occurred in Long An province, and furthermore, the victims transferred money and the subject withdrew money in Ho Chi Minh City.

Therefore, Long An Provincial Police cited Article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Code on investigative authority to argue that the case is not under the jurisdiction of Long An Provincial Police.

Currently, the case is being requested by the Ministry of Public Security's professional agency to transfer the file to the Ho Chi Minh City Police for handling according to their authority.

Do not pay all the money in advance

Fraudsters often exploit customers' psychology of wanting cheap prices to commit fraud. Therefore, when hearing cheap advertisements about a certain service, customers should compare the market price to see if it is reasonable or not. If the price difference is too large, they should consider before making a transaction.

In particular, customers should not transfer all the money before receiving the goods. If online shopping websites require customers to transfer all the money before shipping the goods, they should refuse because it may be a scam website, according to Lawyer Tran Giang Huong.

According to Tuoitre.vn