Warning: 8 scams freshmen can easily fall for when enrolling in university.

Based on his experience, Professor Vu Trong Nghia issued a few warnings to students who are still unfamiliar with the process and easily become "easy targets" for scammers:

"During this time, universities are processing enrollment for first-year students. These students are prime targets for scammers."

Here are some common scams:

1. Trying to sell watches or cameras on the street.

While walking down the street, someone suddenly approaches you trying to sell you a watch, a camera, etc. At first, you think they're cheap and even nice. But after you spend the money, the watch stops working after a few days, the camera can't take pictures...

Or another scenario: Someone claiming to be an employee of a company that produces instant coffee introduces their product and asks for customer feedback after a trial. Upon opening the coffee packet given by the woman, the children find a piece of paper inside with the message, "Congratulations! You have won a digital camera worth 5 million VND."

The man who called himself a "salesperson" led the children to a truck parked 200 meters away and gave them a new camera, carefully wrapped in two layers of plastic bags.

The person claiming to be a salesperson enticed the customer: "You're the first lucky winner. If you want the phone right now, give me 500,000 VND as a 'share of luck' with others. You can write down the address of your parents or someone in need in your hometown. We will transfer the money directly to them."

Sometimes, young people who have just become university students decide to buy a camera, so they don't hesitate to give money to a stranger to take the camera home. Once home, they buy batteries and try to take pictures, but the camera won't turn on no matter how many times they try. When they take the camera back to the repair shop, the technician claims it's a "fake" or low-quality product.

Therefore, make it clear from the start not to participate in and absolutely not to buy anything from street vendors.

2. Pickpocketing on the bus:

When riding the bus, children need to be extremely cautious and watch out for pickpockets. They often carry jackets, raincoats, or plastic bags, dress neatly, constantly look around for targets, approach people closely, and move around the bus to pickpocket.

To avoid this, students should not wear backpacks on their backs or keep their phones and wallets in their pockets while on the bus. If they do, they should be mindful and alert to their surroundings. It's best not to carry valuable items.

3. Donate money to buy toothpicks, pens, and support victims of Agent Orange, flood victims, etc.

This is the most common trap for first-year students. Usually, during the first few classes of the year, some instructors or senior students will come to the lecture halls to try and convince students about this. Their methods are very professional. For example, if it's about supporting victims of Agent Orange, they'll have official documents with red stamps (100% fake stamps). To further build trust, they'll even bring a book with a clearly printed cover detailing cases of people in ABC facing XYZ circumstances...

If you believe it, you've been scammed! If you don't believe it but the class president or treasurer does, stop them, otherwise the class fund will be gone. Because legitimate fundraising centers would never do that. If you need to raise funds, you must go through the school or relevant authorities.

Therefore, students should refrain from donating/supporting/purchasing anything without a letter of introduction from the school.

4. Give money to beggars (especially fake monks, old women, children, etc.):

This is a sensitive issue, and you can choose to give or not give, it's up to you. However, please remember that not 100% of beggars today are genuinely poor. Over 80% of those who beg are scammers. They are healthy and capable of doing other work, yet they still resort to begging.

Begging is organized into groups and associations... with clearly defined areas of operation. Now, there are even higher-level groups pretending to wear monk or nun robes while begging. Any monk or nun uniform with perfectly folded clothes is 99.99% likely to be a scam and should not be given alms.

This is up to you, but I just want to remind you one thing before you take out your wallet: remember how hard your parents at home work to save every penny to send you to school, or how your younger sibling at home sometimes gets scolded by their mother for asking for money to buy new pens/notebooks: "Why ask? The old ones are still usable. Save the money to send to your older sibling for university."

5. Attractive part-time jobs:

When school ends or during class time, if students pick up a flyer with content similar to the following:

“Recruiting part-time students. Job description: Distribute promotional gifts for company XYZ at supermarket ABC for X days. Salary 150k VND/2-hour shift. Employees will be provided with uniforms. Contact center XXX.”

Is there really such an attractive opportunity? Encountering such news, I guarantee 99% of students will lose money unfairly. The recent case involving a tutor at a facility near Cau Giay is a prime example.

The advice is that if you want to find extra tutoring work, you should go through your school's youth organization.

6. Chess puzzles and games:

Some students who are good at playing Chinese chess are also easily scammed in this way. The price for each game can be 5,000 dong (often referred to as: 5k, 10k, 20k...). If they lose, they definitely lose money, but if they win, they are likely to encounter phrases like: "Are you here to mess with us? Just leave so we can have some space to do business."

Therefore, absolutely avoid getting involved in illegal gambling activities such as chess games, dice games, and card games on the sidewalks.

7. "Land brokers who are also robbers" (Basically, they take you to unsatisfactory accommodations but still charge a fee, usually these are motorbike taxi drivers)

The back-to-school season is also a lucrative time for those who act as "brokers" for rental accommodations. Posing as someone looking for a place to rent for my younger sister who was about to start school, I was "advised" on several rental addresses by a motorbike taxi driver who introduced himself as Mạnh, parked in front of the school gate.

This person enthusiastically suggested: "My cousin in alley N has a room for rent that was recently vacated by a recent graduate and is currently vacant. The room is spacious and very clean. I'll take you to see it; if you don't like it, that's fine too."

After winding through a few narrow alleys, the motorbike taxi driver would take the children to a house in the alley. The room, described as "clean and beautiful," was actually less than 9 square meters, with a cracked tiled roof and walls riddled with holes, covered in patches of grayish-green mold.

Seeing the girls refuse, the motorbike taxi driver immediately changed his attitude, demanding 100,000 dong for the ride and "a fee for advising on accommodation," threatening, "If you don't pay, you'll be in trouble with me." So the girls had to give him 100,000 dong.

Therefore, you must carefully check if they are the homeowners and ask clearly if there is a fee. But in any case, if a motorbike taxi takes you there, you don't need to pay because you'll be charged that fee anyway.

8. Multi-level marketing (MLM):

These schemes involve each member paying a fee or purchasing a product set, and then you earn a commission for inviting others to join. It's a case of "old members get commissions from new members." In most of these schemes, you first sell to people you know, and only then to strangers. However, these schemes often ruin beautiful friendships because they are essentially a form of mutual exploitation.

Therefore, new students should first focus on enrollment and studying during their first year. If they want to work part-time, they should seek employment through the Youth Union or relevant departments of the university.

The above are a few warnings for students who are still unfamiliar with the new school year and are easy targets for scammers. A few careless mistakes or a lack of vigilance can ruin the joy of the first days of school. Please try to be vigilant!