Identifying online scams

Notably, online phishing attacks in Vietnam are increasing and becoming more professional. This reality requires early synchronous solutions to protect users in cyberspace.

Stay alert to avoid falling into the trap of online fraud

According to cybersecurity experts, a common online fraud "trick" is for the subject to take control of the victim's Facebook, Zalo... account, then use this account to send messages asking relatives and friends of the account owner to transfer money, top up phone cards according to instructions and then get taken over.

It is necessary to raise awareness and equip people with skills to protect themselves in cyberspace. Illustrative photo

The second method is to send a message informing the victim that they have won a prize of great value, asking them to contribute to the Fund for the Poor and Disabled by transferring money to their account in advance or buying a phone card to send information to the subjects, then having their money appropriated. The third method is to post recruitment information on Facebook and lure the victim into becoming a sales collaborator, then asking the victim to spend a certain amount of money to buy goods on e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Lazada, etc.

When purchasing and evaluating the product, the victim will be paid for the goods and paid an additional percentage of commission. After that, the subjects will carry out two scenarios: one is to take the victim's purchase money and delete the contact; the other is to transfer a small commission to the victim to create trust, then when there are larger orders, the victim has received the goods, these subjects will "skip" the payment and block the contact.

In addition, because social networks are increasingly popular and have many characteristics such as anonymity, connecting many countries... Therefore, the perpetrators of online scams are not only domestic subjects but also transnational scammers. In which, the common scam scenario that the subjects use is to make friends on Facebook, Zalo... to get acquainted and approach "prey".

After a period of conversation and gaining the victim's trust, the subjects expressed their desire to transfer cash as a gift. They then continued to pretend to be bank employees, informing the victim that a package had been sent from abroad and asking the victim to transfer an amount of money in advance to pay for taxes, fees, and shipping costs. Immediately after the victim complied with the request, they would appropriate all of this money and delete the contact.

To avoid falling into the trap of online fraud, experts from the Cyber ​​Security Monitoring Center, Department of Information Security, Ministry of Information and Communications recommend that users follow three principles.

First, “slow down” when the scammer keeps texting or calling you with an urgent tone, asking you to act immediately and transfer money immediately.

The second is “on-site inspection”. If you receive an unwanted call claiming to be from the police, a police officer, a bank employee… immediately call the police agency, bank, or financial institution directly to verify the information.

And the third rule is “stop”, do not send, transfer money, if you see suspicious transactions.

In addition, users need to be careful when receiving links or files via Facebook, Zalo. Because in principle, when the victim is tricked into clicking on a link leading to a malicious website, even though they have not done anything on that website, technically, the bad guy may have installed malware on the victim's device. At that time, the hacker has enough power to control the computer, steal data and account information. Therefore, you should not access links of unknown origin or have doubts about the safety of that link. Regularly change passwords for social networking accounts such as Facebook, Zalo... to increase account security.

In fact, if the password is too easy to guess or too long, it will not ensure security, then the subjects will take advantage of this loophole to hack into social network accounts and commit fraud to appropriate assets. Particularly for jobs as collaborators for e-commerce stores such as Lazada, Shopee, Tiki... it is necessary to clearly check information about goods and suppliers through many different sources to verify accuracy. At the same time, do not transfer a deposit as requested if you have not yet determined whether the recruiting party is reputable or not...

Will build national anti-online fraud database

To combat these scams, many agencies and organizations in Vietnam have recently launched initiatives to help users search and report when they detect online fraud. Notably, the website dauhieuluadao.com (Signs of fraud) was developed by Google in cooperation with the National Cyber ​​Security Monitoring Center (NCSC), the Department of Information Security, and the Ministry of Information and Communications. The website provides typical fraud situations to help users recognize the very popular fraud methods today as well as the "golden rules" of behavior to prevent them.

Recently, under the witness of the leaders of the Ministry of Information and Communications, for the first time, an alliance on network safety and security with the participation of 10 units and members was established and officially operated in Vietnam. In which, the Department of Information Security and the Vietnam Information Security Association (VNISA) play the role of coordinating and orienting the common activities of the Alliance. The mission of the alliance is to promote cooperation between state agencies, associations and enterprises to raise awareness and disseminate basic skills to ensure information security for people when using the network. From there, the Alliance helps create a safe Vietnamese cyberspace, minimize information security incidents and actively promote the digital transformation process, develop digital economic and social infrastructure.

Mr. Nguyen Vu Anh - General Director of Coc Coc, a member of the Alliance, said that ensuring network security for users or building a "green" Internet is always the top priority. The members of the Alliance are committed to speaking with one voice, actively and responsibly contributing to join hands to create a "shield" to help people safely access the Internet.

Sharing more about this issue, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Huy Dung said that the Ministry of Information and Communications has identified 2022 as the year to protect people in cyberspace. Therefore, the Ministry has directed functional agencies to deploy many drastic measures. In the first 10 months of the year, functional units blocked 2,063 violating websites, including 1,255 fraudulent websites; protecting 3.8 million people (nearly 6% of internet users) from online fraud attacks and violations of the law in cyberspace.

In the near future, the Ministry of Information and Communications will build a National Frontline Anti-Fraud Database so that organizations and individuals can query, exploit, and contribute timely anti-fraud data online; provide tools for self-checking and protecting information security in cyberspace. At the same time, the Ministry of Information and Communications will prioritize promoting the development of excellent creative ideas and solutions for network information security, serving national interests and protecting people in cyberspace.

Huyen Thanh