Warning about scams involving opening bank accounts.
Cashless payments through bank accounts are becoming increasingly popular and indispensable in people's lives. However, this also poses many potential security risks.
Using forged documents to open a real bank account.
On September 12, 2024, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial to hear the cases of defendants Nguyen Tat Thang (born in 1988), Nguyen Van Tuan (born in 1990), both residing in Tam Quang commune, Tuong Duong district (Nghe An); Phung Anh Tuan (born in 1990), Le Van Thang (born in 2000), both residing in Thua Thien Hue province; Nguyen Minh Ha (born in 1992, residing in Bac Ninh province); Hoang Thai Bao (born in 1996, residing in Thai Nguyen province), Pham Do Anh Tuan (born in 1988, residing in Gia Lai province), and La Xuan Thien (born in 1997, residing in Thanh Hoa province), on charges of: Fraudulent appropriation of property; Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations; Use of forged documents of agencies and organizations; and Illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts.
According to the indictment, driven by a desire for money, from the beginning of 2023 to December 2023, Nguyen Tat Thang hired Nguyen Minh Ha to forge 31 citizen identification cards to open 117 bank accounts. Subsequently, Nguyen Tat Thang hired Le Van Thang to use referral codes from the bank accounts he was using, and then used the vouchers and promotional rewards received to pay for electricity and water bills, illegally profiting over 17 million VND.
In addition, Nguyen Tat Thang also hired Nguyen Van Tuan and Phung Anh Tuan to forge thousands of fake citizen identification cards and use them to open thousands of bank accounts, which he then resold to various individuals.
At the trial, based on the indictment and considering the role of each defendant, the panel of judges sentenced Nguyen Tat Thang to 10 years in prison for the following crimes: Fraudulent appropriation of property; Forgery of documents of agencies and organizations; Use of forged documents of agencies and organizations; and Illegally buying and selling information about bank accounts.
Defendants Nguyen Van Tuan, Nguyen Minh Ha, and Phung Anh Tuan were sentenced to 40 and 39 months in prison, respectively, for the crime of "Forging documents of agencies and organizations".
Defendants Hoang Thai Bao, Pham Do Anh Tuan, and La Xuan Thien were sentenced to 39 to 24 months in prison for "illegally trading in bank account information"; Le Van Thang was sentenced to 6 months in prison but given a suspended sentence for "fraudulent appropriation of property".
Besides the aforementioned group, on July 3, 2023, the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An province received a report from a bank branch in Vinh City regarding a group of individuals using high-tech methods to steal a large sum of money. Following an investigation, authorities arrested Nguyen The Tuan (born in 1989, residing in Hong Linh town, Ha Tinh province) and Vo Trong Huy (born in 1988, residing in Duc Tho district, Ha Tinh province). According to the investigation, from May 2023 to July 2023, Tuan and Huy used numerous fake identity cards to create fraudulent bank accounts at various bank branches in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thanh Hoa, and other locations.
After opening bank accounts using fake identity cards, the perpetrators sold the login information, passwords, and OTP codes to another individual with a Telegram account named "HN" for 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 VND per account. "HN" then used hacking techniques to access the bank accounts and steal nearly 2 billion VND.
Impersonation to open payment accounts.
Mr. N.D.T (residing in Vinh City) shared that recently, the phone number he uses to receive messages from the bank suddenly received a notification that he had successfully opened a payment account. In reality, Mr. T. had not gone to a bank branch or made any online transactions to open a payment account, as he already had an account used for salary payments and other transactions.
Noticing the aforementioned anomaly, Mr. T. then contacted the bank directly to request an investigation and clarification.
Shortly after, Mr. T. received a response from the bank stating that someone in Dak Nong province had used his information to open a payment account. After reporting the incident, the fraudulent account was blocked.
According to warnings from authorities, fraudsters using information technology to commit online scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, especially in the banking sector. Typical tactics include sending text messages or making phone calls to people's phone numbers requesting them to upgrade their SIM cards from 3G to 4G or 5G to improve internet access, then gaining control of the user's SIM card, redirecting all calls and OTP messages to the perpetrator's phone number, facilitating the theft of money from the victim's bank account or e-wallet.
Some individuals also use tactics such as texting and calling people to request them to standardize their VneID electronic accounts, asking them to provide their citizen identification information, which is then used to open bank payment accounts to carry out numerous interbank money transfer transactions, especially using those accounts as a transit point for money transfers to scammers...
To improve the efficiency of managing the opening and use of payment accounts, on June 28, 2024, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN regulating the opening and use of payment accounts at payment service providers, aiming to guide the opening and use of payment accounts in accordance with newly enacted legal documents (the 2023 Law on Identity Cards, the 2022 Law on Prevention and Combat of Money Laundering, etc.).
According to this circular, opening payment accounts will be more strictly regulated, requiring individuals to provide identification documents such as: Citizen ID card; Electronic ID card (through access to a level 2 electronic identification account) for Vietnamese citizens; and a Certificate of Identity for people of Vietnamese origin whose nationality has not been determined...
In addition, opening a payment account via electronic means requires verifying and matching the biometric information of the payment account holder...
However, according to warnings from authorities, people also need to...Be vigilant, especially by strictly controlling the opening and registration of bank accounts. Absolutely do not lend or post your citizen identification card or identity card on social media, and do not buy, sell, or use bank accounts advertised on social media… to avoid criminals exploiting your personal information to commit crimes.
People should also be wary of calls from unknown phone numbers, or messages and emails requesting QR code scanning. Absolutely do not click on links from unknown sources received via text messages/emails. Do not register accounts/electronic identity for others. Otherwise, you could unwittingly become a link in a scam without your knowledge.
