Retired officer in Nghe An lost 120 million VND because he believed the detention order was sent via Zalo
(Baonghean.vn) - After being sent an arrest warrant for drug trafficking and money laundering, a retired official in Nghe An panicked and transferred 120 million VND from his savings book to "prove his innocence".
On July 10, information from the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Team and the Foreign Elements Department of the Provincial Police Criminal Police Department: the unit is verifying and clarifying the information reported by a man who was defrauded of 120 million VND.
Mr. Nguyen VA (a retired cadre residing in Le Loi ward, Vinh city) said that on July 8, he received a phone call from a man claiming to be an employee of the Hanoi Post Office informing him that a parcel had been sent but could not be delivered due to an incorrect address. Mr. A. confirmed that the information matched his personal information. When Mr. A. asked about the parcel, the person claiming to be an employee of the post office connected him to an officer of the Hanoi City Police.
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| The arrest warrant was cut and forged and Mr. Nguyen VA received via Zalo. |
The person claiming to be an investigator from Hanoi City Police informed Mr. A. that he was involved in a drug trafficking and money laundering ring and asked the 63-year-old man to transfer all his savings to assist in the investigation.
“The person claiming to be an investigator said this was just a formality, if the investigation verified that the above amount of money was not related to a crime, he would return it to me. I confirmed that it was not related to drug trafficking or money laundering, so he sent me via Zalo the temporary detention order of the Hanoi People's Procuracy, the information of the person under the temporary detention order completely matched my personal information. At that time, I started to worry, panic and as if hypnotized, I immediately transferred money to the account he sent me,” said Mr. Nguyen VA.
After transferring 120 million VND, Mr. A. could not contact the “investigator”, and the other person’s Zalo account was also deleted. At this time, the 63-year-old man realized he had been scammed.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Ha Huy Duc - Captain of the Police Team for High-Tech Crime Prevention and Foreign Elements, Criminal Police Department of the Provincial Police, this is not a new trick. However, criminals target women, the elderly, and retirees - people who have little access to information on the Internet, so many people still fall into the trap.