Need to soon equip "digital vaccine" for students

Parents are worried

In recent days, public opinion has been quite surprised by the news that the family of a Nghe An student studying in Hanoi was scammed out of nearly 1.2 billion VND by an “online kidnapping” scam. Previously, on September 23, after being unable to contact their daughter LVDL (born 2007, a student at a university in Hanoi) for many hours, the family reported to the police for support.

After verifying, the police determined that the victim was still at the motel in Dai Mo ward, had not contacted or interacted with anyone, and showed signs of panic due to being controlled online and psychologically manipulated by the scammers for 4 days.

At the authorities, L. explained that a person impersonated a shipper and the package was illegal. Then, taking advantage of L.'s fear and panic, the scammers created a perfect scenario, forcing L. to call home and lie to her parents that she needed to deposit money into her account to prove her financial capacity for a student exchange program abroad. After receiving nearly 1.2 billion VND from her family, due to threats from the scammers, L. transferred all the money into their account.

It is worth mentioning that LVDL is not the only victim. Recently, authorities have informed that many students have fallen into similar scams.

Not only stopping at online fraud, other negative aspects of social networks are also making many parents really uneasy. Especially students participating in negative groups on social networks; Incidents of students beating friends or behaving inappropriately with teachers and then filming and posting clips online, causing public outrage; or insensitive expressions, liking to "cause a storm" by insulting and disparaging others in cyberspace...

Ms. TLC (residing in Vinh Phu ward), who currently has two children studying in middle school and high school, said: "The fact that children are exposed to social networks early, while not being fully equipped with knowledge about society, is really worrying. The virtual world is full of temptations, I don't know when my children can become victims of a scam or be affected by bad behaviors that are widespread like today."

Ms. NTV (residing in Truong Vinh ward), whose child has just entered the first year of university in Hanoi, was also very worried after hearing the story of a female student being "kidnapped online". According to Ms. V: The fact that scammers target students, especially when they do not have enough mental strength to face such sophisticated traps, is very alarming. Ms. V. also hopes that the authorities will soon have solutions to fight against fraudsters, and at the same time, prevent bad and toxic information on cyberspace so that her children can truly have a clean environment for studying and developing.

Early equipping of "digital vaccine"

In fact, recently, the authorities have regularly disseminated and informed about signs of fraud in cyberspace. In particular, scammers have impersonated the police, the Procuracy, and the Court to call and threaten, manipulate the psychology of children and students, and inform them that they are involved in a case under investigation. From there, they request that the family be notified to transfer ransom money, this method is considered "online kidnapping".

During the process, the subjects will manipulate the victim's psychology, ask the victim to keep it a secret, not tell anyone, force or instruct the victim to leave the place of residence and rent a place (motel, hotel) to live alone. Then, instruct them to cut off contact with relatives and only contact the subjects (change the phone SIM, put the phone in airplane mode and use video call to contact the subjects from other applications). In addition, there are cases where the victim is threatened to provide sensitive images and clips to the subjects.

After deceiving the victim, the subjects can text or call the family directly to inform them that the victim is being kidnapped, threaten to kill them, or post sensitive images and clips online... to request money to be transferred to their account.

Faced with this reality, recently, implementing Official Dispatch No. 4642/BGDĐT-HSSV dated August 8, 2025 of the Ministry of Education and Training on warning about criminal tricks of taking advantage of cyberspace to lure and attract students, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An also issued a document requesting the People's Committees of wards, communes, and affiliated units to strengthen coordination with the local police force to organize propaganda and dissemination to officials, teachers, staff, students and students' families about methods and tricks of fraud.

However, according to experts, to protect the younger generation from risks in cyberspace, it is impossible to rely solely on parental control or prevention from authorities. More importantly, students need to be equipped with essential skills as a form of “digital vaccine” to protect themselves in all situations.

Dr. Tran Hang Ly - Faculty of Psychology - Education, School of Education, Vinh University said: The recent heartbreaking events involving students are not only a warning about the seriousness of social problems but also a sign that there is a shortage in psychological education, life skills and skills to cope with life's challenges. This is a very important issue, of social concern and needs to be discussed extensively.

Dr. Tran Hang Ly also said that it is time to implement synchronous solutions to protect young people from the dangers of cyberspace. In particular, it is necessary to strengthen education on life values ​​and life skills, by integrating education on life values, self-esteem, and conflict resolution skills into the curriculum. Organize classes on life skills such as emotional management, communication, and teamwork.

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It is necessary to pay attention to psychological counseling in schools. Develop and implement psychological counseling activities in schools such as prevention programs, early detection of psychological problems, individual and group counseling... in a timely and effective manner to support students to overcome stress, pressure and psychological difficulties.

Dr. Tran Hang Ly, Faculty of Psychology - Education, School of Education, Vinh University

In addition, it is also necessary to strengthen cyber security. Educate students to identify risks on the Internet, such as fraud and "online kidnapping". Organize classes and propaganda campaigns to help students protect themselves when using the Internet.

Close coordination between families and educational institutions, providing knowledge to parents on how to support children's psychological and educational needs. Strengthening the connection between families and schools to monitor and support students' development.

"All of the above solutions need to be implemented synchronously and closely coordinated between schools, families, communities and social organizations to create a healthy educational environment, supporting and protecting students' comprehensive development," Dr. Tran Hang Ly emphasized.