Beware of strange scams

A new "immigration" season is approaching when relatives take new students to big cities to enroll in school, which is also the time when scams are launched to make money...

The camera has the same value as a children's toy that Thu Hoai's group of friends were tricked into buying.

Careless and you will be fooled

In Hanoi, the most common scam is selling fake technology products. Watches, computers, cameras, phones... are items that bad guys use to scam gullible, inexperienced people. Student Dinh Thu Hoai (University of Social Sciences and Humanities) sadly said: “On the first day of school, my friends and I were walking past the old Ha Dong bus station when we met a middle-aged man, holding a hat, approaching us furtively. When we got there, he took out his camera and started clicking pictures and selling it. The flash was so bright that everyone believed it was genuine. He said that he had just picked up the item and wanted to sell it for 2 million VND. After hearing that, his friends shook their heads and stuck out their tongues, so he immediately lowered the price by half. A friend who was not fond of being solicited said, “I only have 200,000 VND left,” but unexpectedly he agreed to sell it. Seeing that it was so cheap, he bought it right away.” A while after that lightning-fast purchase, the young people were shocked to see that the value of the "genuine" camera was only equal to a children's toy when only the flash worked, while the other parts were broken. "The whole group happily took pictures, but after no more than 20 shots, the camera started acting up, the screen went dark and then "died" completely" - Hoai said.

Student Le Van Luong (University of Natural Sciences) encountered another case: “My mother and I were going to school through Khuat Duy Tien intersection when suddenly a woman walked closely behind us and talked on the phone so loudly that everyone around us could hear clearly. She said that she had just picked up someone’s phone, the owner of the phone wanted to redeem it but couldn’t come right away, while she had to go to the bus station to go back to her hometown because of urgent matters at home. After saying that, she approached my mother and I and asked to sell it. She said quickly: “I picked up a touch screen phone but don’t know how to use it, now I have to go back to my hometown urgently, if you buy it, I’ll sell it cheap. The price was only a few hundred thousand dong. After passing the university entrance exam, my mother promised to buy me a phone. The phone she offered to sell was the one I liked, so my mother took out her wallet and paid for it. Holding the new phone with a happy heart, the mother and I went to the store to buy a new SIM card. Inserting the SIM card and turning it on, the phone ran smoothly, but unfortunately, there was no signal bar. When we went to the repair shop, we found out that although the phone was new, it had water damage and the transmitter and receiver were broken. Replacing it cost almost half the company's price. So my mother and I were devastated because we had been tricked like in the movies.

“Unjustly died” because of being… recruited

Recruitment flyers with ambiguous information "cover" bus stops, school gates... Photo: TG

It may sound unreasonable, but many new students and young workers who have just graduated have had to swallow their pride with "ghost" recruiters. Because they know that the time when new students graduate and enter school is when the demand for stable jobs and part-time jobs increases, many "ghost" companies and organizations have posted recruitment information with attractive content on the Internet, along with the promise of easy work and attractive salaries. However, when candidates come to submit their applications, they are forced to pay a recruitment fee or deposit an amount "according to company regulations". After that, they give students tasks that cannot be completed or deny the money they have received. This trick is not new, but many students still fall for it, especially first-year students.

Mr. Nguyen Nam Hai (Hai Hau, Nam Dinh) said: “I was tricked into doing tennis ball picking for 300,000 VND/3 hours at an address on Pham Van Dong Street, Hanoi. First, I was asked to pay 400,000 VND for the application, then they directed me to another address to receive the job. When I arrived, the staff there said that if I wanted to get the job, I had to pay an additional 250,000 VND to sign a contract and pass a test. After paying the money, they told me to go home and study for 5 days as a trial period and would receive 1.5 million VND when I returned. At that time, I was so nervous that I paid the money without making any receipt, so 5 days later when I returned, I met another employee and was immediately denied that I had paid. After arguing, knowing that I was in the wrong because... I had made a mistake, I had to leave in resentment.”

In addition to online job advertisements, bus stops, university and college gates... are typical places to post recruitment flyers. However, behind the attractive salaries and easy money-making... are tricks that make students and young workers lose money unjustly. "I received a flyer distributed at the gate of Hanoi National University with the content of recruiting sales staff, working only 2 hours, salary 200,000 VND/session. When I went to the address on the flyer, I was asked to submit my ID card as a guarantee and was scheduled to come to work the next day. The next day when I went to the "company", they forced me to submit 200,000 VND to withdraw my ID card and assigned me to... distribute a stack of flyers exactly like the one I picked up the day before", Thanh Trung, a former student of Hanoi University of Architecture indignantly "accused".

Young people who have just moved from the countryside to big cities should be wary of unclear recruitment information, written in a general way without clearly stating which department they are recruiting for, no qualifications required, or easy work with high salaries, which is definitely just... bait for scammers. Do not pay money or sign documents without a clear legal basis, especially receipts, contracts...

According to Gia dinh.net