New students face a series of scams

When he first came to Hanoi to study, Binh was invited by an online sales company to pay 5 million to receive products and a sales account with a profit of 5-7 million VND per month.

Binh, then an 18-year-old freshman at the Academy of Journalism and Communication, remembers the meeting taking place in a large auditorium with nearly 100 people in Cau Giay. The company introduced its business on an online sales platform.

"They shared how to make money, some new employees held large sums of money and said that was their income in the beginning," said Binh, a fresh graduate.

After a few minutes of consultation and introduction, the students were divided into teams and shouted slogans of determination. The old staff guided the new students to pay the fee and register to receive goods and open an account. Binh did not have enough money at that time, and felt it was unreasonable not knowing what to sell, so he left. However, many people who went with Binh were excited to buy packages of 15-20 million VND.

According to Ms. Dang Huong Giang, Head of Political and Student Affairs Department, Thuyloi University,Scam of working extra hours with attractive salaryare still being used, targeting new students. However, before starting work, the subjects will ask students to pay many fees such as documents, uniforms, accounts, goods, but then the income is not as promised, or it is just a virtual company.

"You should be careful with additional fees, especially pay attention to carefully researching the job, many people are willing to hire brokers and introduce fake salaries to create trust," said Ms. Giang.

Candidates taking the 2020 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Huu Khoa

Besides,Many students were tricked into giving away their personal information and bank accounts.In August 2022, when Hoai Thu, a second-year student at a university in Cau Giay, went online to sell an old dress, someone claiming to be an international student in Europe asked to buy the item and transfer information. After that, this person took a photo of the transfer receipt for Thu, and at first glance, there was no problem. When the female student wondered if she had not received the money, this person sent her a series of 10 numbers, instructing Thu to log in to an international banking site to receive the money and get additional incentives.

"I was suspicious when I heard about receiving more money. I said the network was lagging and I couldn't enter the code. The person immediately changed his attitude and said I had lost their bank transaction fee," Thu recalled.

The next day, the female student looked back curiously and realized that this link had appeared in a scam warning on a TV channel. If she logged in and linked her account, the money in the original account could disappear.

A leader of Nguyen Tat Thanh University (HCMC) said that the school had been sent fake admission and scholarship notices by some individuals at the end of August, requiring new students to submit complete applications and pay tuition on time.

According to this person, the subjects will collect important personal information of students such as citizen identification cards and bank accounts. From there, these people will carry out fraudulent acts such as borrowing black credit, mortgaging documents, and selling data to virtual job brokers.

Jobfake school tricked new students into transferring tuitionmore and more

On September 7, Van Lang University (HCMC) recorded that a candidate was tricked into paying an admission fee of up to VND86.6 million through an account due to a fake announcement from the school. Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology also said that some new students were tricked into transferring this amount of money by a scammer impersonating a bank director.

Representatives of some schools said they also recorded another scam trick of impersonating landlords to steal rental deposits from new students.

Fake news that Van Lang University requires new students to pay tuition fees, September 7. Photo: School's Fanpage

Representatives of the schools said that the current scams are becoming more and more sophisticated, from fake account names to red stamps and principals' signatures. The target is new students who have just been admitted to university because they do not have much knowledge, are in a happy mood, and are not vigilant, especially for students from other provinces.

According to Ms. Giang, the University of Water Resources has cooperated with the city police to train and exchange skills with new students to prevent fraud. Meanwhile, Nguyen Tat Thanh University has made videos simulating common real-life fraud situations to convey to students.

For information on tuition fees and early-year payments, new students are advised to contact the Accounting Department or the Admissions and Communications Department of the school they are attending for support.

*Student names in the article have been changed

Duy Phuong