Beware of phone scams

(Baonghean) - Taking advantage of the development of information technology, bad guys have used the trick of announcing that customers have won prizes with large values, then asking them to pay the prize fee by phone scratch cards. Many people, because of their gullibility and greed, have become victims of this scam.

» Nghe An Department of Information and Communications announced a hotline to receive reports of 'junk' SIM cards

Top up 19 million with scratch card to receive SH motorbike!

Received information from Mr. VTN in Vinh City about him being scammed out of 19 million VND but the perpetrator could not be identified. Mr. N. recounted that on the morning of February 13, he received a message from Tango - a free texting and calling application on smartphones with the content: "Your Tango account with code LD7979 is lucky to win the first prize of the Tango Vietnam customer appreciation program. The prize includes a SH motorbike worth 81.5 million VND, a gift voucher worth 120 million VND in cash".

After filling in his personal information, Mr. N. continued to receive the notification "You need to urgently pay the original application fee" with a cost of 1,500,000 VND for 3 sets of documents by submitting a phone card. Contacting via phone number 0898.871.xxx, Mr. N. was further instructed by this person to receive the prize transferred from Da Nang to Vinh City, Mr. N. had to pay a "deposit" by submitting a phone card. In total, Mr. N. bought 38 scratch cards worth 500,000 VND/card with a total of 19 million VND to top up via the website http://triansukien2017.com in the hope of receiving a grand prize.At the end of the message, Mr. N. was instructed to go to the website http://triansukien2017.com to complete the procedures for receiving the prize and contact the phone number 0898.871.xxx. “When I visited this website, I saw that they posted the prizes for customers who had specific addresses and phone numbers, so I trusted and followed them. In addition to the prize as in the message, the website also has information about giving away a free gas coupon for a year worth 5 million VND,” said Mr. N. The total prize Mr. N. can receive is 206.5 million VND.

However, after paying 19 million VND, Mr. N. called back the phone number 0898.871.xxx to know the time and place to receive the prize, but this person blocked his calls and messages. When we accessed the website http://triansukien2017.com, this website no longer existed.

Not only Mr. N., before that, many people also fell into the trap of this phone scam because of their gullibility and greed. In September 2015, Ms. Thai Thi Muoi (born in 1983), residing in Thanh Duc commune, Thanh Chuong district, was scammed out of nearly 6 million VND by paying phone cards after receiving a phone call from a stranger claiming to be a philanthropist who wanted to help her child who was being treated for a traumatic brain injury. In May 2013, Ms. Cao Thi Ha (born in 1969, residing in Duc Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) was also scammed out of more than 8 million VND in phone cards when the scammer announced that Ms. Ha had won a prize of nearly 200 million VND.

It can be seen that the scamming trick is not new and is also very simple. The bad guys just need to use their phones to text or call any subscriber to announce that they have won a prize. By hitting the greedy psychology of some people, they ask for payment of shipping fees, delivery fees... in the form of phone scratch cards to appropriate. Any gullible subscriber will become their victim.

Winning text message to Mr. N's phone number. Photo: Nam Phuc.

Be vigilant

Although there have been many cases of people falling into this scam, many people still blindly believe it. Most of the victims are people with little social knowledge, lack vigilance, and are greedy for the big prize without thoroughly understanding where the prize comes from.

According to Mr. Dau Khac Canh - Deputy Head of Economic Security Department, Provincial Police, for this type of crime, they often use unregistered prepaid SIM cards and impersonate them to commit fraud. After committing the crime, they throw away the SIM cards, so the search requires the participation and coordination between the police force and the Ministry of Information and Communications. When encountering this situation, people should promptly report it to the authorities to promptly have a plan to investigate, detect and handle the fraudsters.

In fact, many people have fallen into the lottery trap, but because the amount of money was small, or because of shame, they did not dare to report it to the authorities. For example, Mr. Vo Thanh N. lost 19 million VND but accepted the loss and did not report it.

In order to prevent subjects from using junk SIM cards to commit illegal acts, since the end of December 2016, the Department of Information and Communications has stepped up inspections of prepaid mobile subscriber management activities of telecommunications service providers in the province. This has contributed to preventing illegal trading and circulation of mobile SIM cards; rectifying telecommunications service providers in registering and managing prepaid mobile subscriber information; and terminating the provision of services to subscribers who do not comply with legal regulations in registering information. Since December 2016, the authorities have discovered and recovered 53 junk SIM cards belonging to many different network operators.

However, according to Mr. Phan Sy Quy - Head of Telecommunications Management Department, Department of Information and Communications, the subjects committing fraud are not only in the province but can be anywhere. With just a phone and deceptive words, they can easily lure gullible victims. Therefore, to avoid falling into the trap of scammers, the people themselves need to be vigilant and take precautions.

According to research, in most promotional programs or lucky draws, customers are not required to provide scratch card codes, top up money or provide detailed personal information. For valid programs, receiving rewards is publicly announced and people do not have to pay any fees as some scammers have "set traps".

Currently, many new applications are developed on social networks such as Facebook, Zalo, Viber... attracting the participation of millions of users. In addition to effective features, people should learn knowledge, use and update the features of safe web browsing warning when using the internet. In addition, they must be vigilant against messages with big prizes, do not follow the instructions of messages of unknown origin, with advertising content, invitations, or impersonating businesses, organizations, individuals to make illegal profits./.

Phuong Thao