"Blooming" tricks of impersonating fire police to commit fraud

One day in mid-October 2018, Mr. Nguyen Huu Vinh - Director of Thao Thang Petroleum Company Limited (Quynh Thien Ward, Hoang Mai Town) was working at the company when he received a call from a strange phone number. On the other end of the line, a man's voice claimed to be an officer of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Police Department of the Provincial Police.

“He said that there were some new documents related to the Fire Prevention and Fighting Law that he asked me to buy to learn about, for 1.7 million VND. I agreed to buy, then he provided an address for me to send payment by post, the book would be sent later. A few days later, I received the book,” said Mr. Vinh.

Fire prevention and fighting documents are sold to establishments at prices 5-7 times higher than the regulations. Photo: HT

Seeing that Mr. Vinh was easy to fool, just a few days later, a man continued to call Mr. Vinh's number and claimed to be a leader of the provincial police. This person said that a few days ago, a local official had called to introduce new documents, texts, and regulations, so he urged him to buy more.

Mr. Vinh found it strange so he asked to go directly to Vinh City to buy books and documents, but this man refused and said that he only needed to transfer money via post office and he would send the documents. Thinking that he also needed these documents, Mr. Vinh continued to transfer nearly 2 million VND via post office. However, this time, after waiting for a long time without seeing the documents, Mr. Vinh realized that he had been scammed.

Mr. Vinh's case is not an isolated one. According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Dinh Hanh - Deputy Head of the Fire Prevention and Rescue Department of the Provincial Police, the above situation has also occurred in some localities such as Vinh City, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai... Many establishments have agreed to buy and transferred money to the subject to buy Law books and training materials at prices 5-7 times higher than the regulations.

“The subjects impersonating officers of the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department, Nghe An Provincial Police, called the owners of establishments under fire prevention and fighting management, asking for a package of documents for fire prevention and fighting review and acceptance; asking the owners of the establishments to buy books on the Fire Prevention and Fighting Law to add to the records of fire prevention and fighting management and monitoring, or asking agencies, organizations and enterprises to buy documents for fire prevention and fighting training at prices many times higher… “, said Lieutenant Colonel Hanh.

Thanh Chuong District Police issued a warning about the method of impersonating fire police to commit fraud. Photo: PB

According to research, these subjects often choose businesses that sell gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas, agencies, schools... to commit fraud, especially those that are preparing documents for approval and acceptance of fire prevention and fighting. The subjects do not meet directly but only conduct transactions via phone and postal services.

These subjects hit the psychology of facility owners who want to complete documents and paperwork in accordance with regulations or agencies and businesses to deal with fire prevention and fighting inspections, so many facilities have "fallen into the trap".

To gain the victim's trust, the subjects initially called the facility owner to instruct and remind them of the records related to fire prevention and fighting, then announced that there was an upcoming plan to inspect and check fire prevention and fighting safety conditions or open a training course on fire prevention and fighting, and asked the facility owner to purchase new documents and legal documents to add to the management records, monitor fire prevention and fighting activities, and purchase documents for training...

On average, each file and document like this costs from 1 to 3 million VND. Because the amount of money is not much, the owners of the establishments do not suspect anything and are willing to pay for the transaction. At first, the subject still sent books and documents to the owners of the establishments, but later on, he stopped.

This situation is becoming more and more common, to the point that Thanh Chuong District Police had to issue a warning document. According to the leader of Thanh Chuong District Police, the unit received a lot of information from agencies and individuals in the district with the following content: There are a number of subjects impersonating police officers of fire prevention and fighting and rescue units, contacting by phone agencies, departments, branches, unions of communes, towns, and kindergartens to sell books related to fire prevention and fighting.

“The district police have verified, clarified and concluded that the fire prevention and rescue units in the police sector do not have any documents or regulations on contacting to sell books with content related to fire prevention and fighting work,” Senior Lieutenant Colonel Dang Hong Hai - Deputy Head of Thanh Chuong District Police affirmed and added that this issue has caused misunderstanding in public opinion, affecting the image and honor of the police sector.

Information page of Nghe An Province Fire Police. Photo: PB

Faced with the increasing number of scams, the provincial police have issued a warning about the tricks and methods of these subjects. "We request that the police of all units and localities strengthen propaganda work, focus on inspecting, detecting, arresting and promptly handling these scammers," said Lieutenant Colonel Hanh, affirming that this is an act of fraud to appropriate property, although it has not caused major property damage, it has seriously affected the reputation of the fire police force.

Nghe An Fire Police announced that when someone calls to request to buy documents, establishments must absolutely not work over the phone, immediately notify the nearest police agency, or the police officer in charge of the area to check, detect and arrest./.