Set up fake 'Electricity' broadcasting station to demand payment of electricity bills
On the afternoon of July 24, the Central Power Corporation (CPCCC) announced that it had just discovered another case of a subject operating a fake BTS, sending messages impersonating EVNCPC to people asking to "pay electricity bills".
Specifically, in mid-July 2023, a resident using electricity in Quang Ngai reported: Having received a message impersonating EVNCPC, the content of which requested the customer to pay the electricity bill. Immediately upon receiving the resident's feedback, the Central Power Customer Care Center (CPCCC) checked the history of sending notifications to this customer.
Fake Electricity text message asking people to "pay electricity bill" from scammers.
The inspection results show that since March 2023, CPCCC has stopped sending SMS and switched to Zalo OA channels and EVNCPC CSKH App to send notifications to this customer; checking the history of sending to the customer's phone number since March 2023 also did not record any new messages.
Central Power Information Technology Company (CPCIT) has coordinated with service provider SouthTelecom and network operator VNPT to check and confirm that SMS messages were not sent to the above customer's phone number with the Brandname Central Power Corporation (EVECPC).
In the initial assessment, CPCIT determined that the subject was operating a fake BTS station to send fake messages to electricity customers. Currently, it has only sent test messages to one customer, and no other cases have been recorded.
EVNCPC is coordinating with network operators, proposing coordination and taking preventive and preventive measures; coordinating with Brandname service providers to enhance information security, avoiding bad guys from exploiting and taking advantage of sending messages via Brandname managed by the unit.
EVNCPC recommends that when customers receive strange messages with signs of fraud or scam, they should immediately notify the hotline 19001909. Customers should absolutely not click on links in messages, provide information or transfer money as requested by the scammer.
Recently, many similar cases have appeared in many localities in the country. The Ministry of Information and Communications has discovered and transferred to the competent authorities to investigate and handle many cases of using fake BTS mobile transmission stations to spread spam, advertisements or fake messages to scam people.
