Many people in Nghe An have lost money due to scams involving fake delivery drivers.

Many victims fell into the trap.

Due to her busy work schedule, Ms. Thai Thi Thanh Thuy, a resident of Kim Truong Thi apartment building on Vo Thi Sau Street, Vinh City, frequently shops online and places orders via the internet. Since delivery drivers mainly operate during business hours, Ms. Thuy usually doesn't receive the goods directly but asks the driver to leave them on the ground floor of her apartment building. She then transfers the payment to the driver and checks the goods upon returning home.

In early October 2024, Ms. Thuy placed an online order worth 400,000 VND. The very next day, a phone number contacted her, claiming to be a delivery driver bringing the item, and asked her to pick it up. Since she wasn't home, Ms. Thuy still told the driver to leave the package on the first floor of her apartment building as before and that she would transfer the money later.

Ms. Thuy said: "Just a few minutes after the delivery, the shipper kept calling and texting me, urging me to transfer the money. They said that because they had many orders to deliver, they needed to pay quickly to be able to deliver other orders on time. At that time, I was busy and careless, so I transferred the money to the shipper."

“What’s noteworthy is that after the transfer was successful, the shipper called back, saying they had sent the wrong account number, then sent a Facebook link asking me to access it to report to the company for a refund. At this point, I became suspicious and asked my neighbor to go downstairs to check if there was a package, and as expected, none of my orders had been delivered. I immediately questioned the fake shipper, but they hung up, and I couldn’t contact them again…”, Ms. Thuy shared. Because the order wasn’t too large, Ms. Thuy didn’t report it to the authorities and posted about it on social media to warn others.

Using a similar tactic, Ms. TN, residing in Hoa Hieu ward, Thai Hoa town, was also scammed out of an order worth over 600,000 VND. Ms. TN stated: "I ordered goods online totaling 635,000 VND. The next day, a shipper called saying they were delivering the order to my house. Because the phone number was unfamiliar and the voice was different from the usual shipper, I asked again, and this shipper said they were filling in for the previous shipper who was busy with other work."

However, because this person correctly stated the product name and the amount I had previously paid to the shop, I trusted them and asked them to deliver the goods to my grandparents at home, and I transferred the correct amount. Just a few minutes later, they called back saying they had sent the wrong account number and asked me to access a link to receive a refund. At this point, I realized it was a scam and called home. My family said they hadn't received any order, and they couldn't reach the fake shipper.

"

I immediately contacted the shop where I placed the order, and the owner said they were packing the goods and hadn't shipped them yet. That's when I realized I'd been scammed. What upset me most wasn't the money lost, but the fact that my order information and home address had been obtained and used by these scammers to commit fraud...

Ms. TN, Thai Hoa Town

In fact, over the past month, scams involving impersonating delivery drivers have proliferated nationwide. In Nghe An province, many victims, both in urban and rural areas, have lost money through this method. Some orders ranged from a few hundred thousand dong to millions of dong. Specifically, if victims access the link provided by the fake delivery driver and follow the instructions, they will lose all the money in their account.

Increase vigilance.

According to the police, impersonating delivery drivers to scam people into transferring money in exchange for goods is a new form of fraud, but it has already trapped many victims.

In the context of the 4.0 technological revolution, with the strong development of e-commerce, home delivery services have also flourished. However, this also creates a favorable environment for fraudsters to steal property. The most common tactic is to exploit the psychology of buyers who are careless or unable to receive products directly. Fraudsters impersonate delivery personnel (shippers) to deceive and steal property.

This scam involves collecting customer information from public comments or purchasing customer data through online sales on social media platforms. Once they obtain this information, the scammers impersonate delivery personnel and call customers during business hours or when they are not home. If the customer says they cannot receive the order, the scammers request payment via bank transfer to send the goods to an acquaintance or neighbor. Because receiving the goods is inconvenient and the amount is not large, customers readily agree to this request and transfer the payment to the account provided by the scammers.

After receiving the money, they may continue to use various excuses, such as sending the wrong payment account number to threaten to deduct money, then trick the victim into clicking on a link containing "malware" to gain control of the device and steal the victim's bank account and money, before cutting off all contact.

If the recipient says they can receive the goods in person, the scammer will immediately hang up because their targets are usually busy people who cannot receive the goods in person.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Phuong, residing in Block 12, Truong Thi Ward, Vinh City, stated: "From the beginning of October until now, I have received calls from numerous phone numbers impersonating delivery drivers, requesting money transfers. However, because the drivers' voices sounded like a mix of Northern and Southern accents, not from Nghe An, I requested direct delivery. After realizing they couldn't trick me, the scammers hung up and blocked my number."

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Xuan Khoa, Deputy Head of the Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department of the Nghe An Provincial Police, stated: Currently, the scam of impersonating delivery drivers has appeared in many localities. People need to be more vigilant, not accept any orders they did not order, not transfer money or pay for orders without clear information, and absolutely not access any links sent by strangers to avoid falling into the trap of fraudsters. When detecting any unusual signs, immediately stop the transaction and provide information about the incident to the nearest police force for timely handling.

Currently, postal and delivery companies all have websites and applications for tracking tracking numbers. Therefore, people should proactively access these platforms to monitor the progress of their orders and ensure they receive the correct order before accepting delivery.