Beware of sophisticated scams on the internet
(Baonghean.vn) - In the context of increasingly developing information technology, the emergence of social networking applications such as Facebook, Zalo... has created conditions to connect people all over the world. But along with the conveniences, many scammers with sophisticated tricks have appeared...
Many sophisticated tricks
According to statistics from the authorities, in 2022, Nghe An province had 35 cases of online fraud with 54 participants, causing losses of 20-25 billion VND to people. From the beginning of 2023 to now, there have been 17 cases of online fraud with 26 participants, causing losses of 5-7 billion VND. According to the assessment, the forms ofInternet fraudis happening more and more sophisticatedly, with very cunning tricks and methods, making it very easy for victims to fall into traps.
Typically, on December 26, 2022, Nghia Phuc Commune Police (Tan Ky) promptly prevented a fraud case with a large amount of money. Accordingly, in the morning of the same day, Ms. LTH - a citizen of Nghia Phuc Commune received a call from the phone number 0795320983 with the content of informing that she had an arrest warrant from the Hanoi City Investigation Agency for being involved in money laundering crimes. After that, the subjects asked this woman to transfer the entire amount of money from 3 savings books worth 571 million VND to the bank to serve the investigation and freeze the bank account. After receiving the call, Ms. H. went to the bank to prepare to transfer money to the subjects. Fortunately, in the process of bringing 3 savings books to the bank to withdraw money, Ms. H. remembered that the Nghia Phuc Commune Police force had propagated about the tricks of criminals using high technology, so she went to the Nghia Phuc Commune Police headquarters to report.
At the Nghia Phuc Commune Police Station, the commune police officers directly answered Ms. H's phone when the scammers were contacting her to urge her to transfer money. Through the conversation, the Nghia Phuc Commune police officers exposed the tricks of the scammers. Without the timely support of the police force, it is very likely that Ms. H. would have been scammed out of 571 million VND.
Ms. Hoang Thi Hong L., residing in Nghi Kim commune (Vinh city) recounted: On May 15, 2023, when she returned to her mother's house to pick up her child, she heard that her mother was running around borrowing money to send to the account number that her sister living in Germany had just texted. Thinking it was a scam, Ms. L. took her mother's phone to check the messages and discovered that her sister's Facebook account had been lost. The scammer pretended to be her sister and texted her mother, saying: "Mom, this woman wants to send 2,200 Euros, I will accept it for 50 million VND, I will send you 10 million VND more, making it 60 million VND". When she was told that her mother did not have 50 million VND in cash and did not have an account number, the scammer repeatedly urged Ms. L.'s mother to borrow money and ask someone to transfer it for her.
“After my mother had collected enough money, the scammer texted the account number 1240201401053 of Agribank under the name Nguyen Van Quan for her to ask someone to transfer the money. Luckily, I came back in time and discovered it, otherwise, 50 million VND would have been transferred,” Ms. L. shared.
Need to raise vigilance
According to warnings from authorities, in addition to the old tricks such as hijacking Facebook and Zalo accounts... then texting friends in the contact list to borrow money, now the subjects have used more sophisticated methods. After taking over the right to use Facebook and Zalo accounts, the scammers created a short video clip impersonating the "victim's" face and then called relatives in the friends list to borrow money. These fake calls are considered Deepfake calls. The characteristics of these calls are usually no sound, only a few seconds of images to gain the victim's trust, then the subjects use the excuse of losing signal, weak signal and unable to connect, so they can only text to request a transfer to handle urgent work. For Deepfake calls, the caller's face often lacks emotion, is quite "stiff" when speaking, or the posture looks awkward. Because it is created from software that creates animated images from the face, it is unnatural, the face and body are inconsistent with each other. In addition, the skin color of the character in the video is abnormal, the lighting is not in the right position.
In addition, scammers are now taking advantage of online sales, setting prices for branded items such as bicycles, cameras, hand-carried goods, etc. at much lower prices than the market price. If a customer buys the goods, they often require a deposit, which can be as little as 100,000 VND to 200,000 VND, to ensure their safety. When the customer transfers the deposit, the scammers immediately block Facebook and Zalo. Because the amount of money is not large, and they do not know who the scammers are, many customers have to bite the bullet. Even though it is a small amount, if they can scam many people, the amount of money the scammers collect together will be very large.
After the tricks of “borrowing money” and impersonating the prosecution agency were no longer effective, the scammers targeted victims who were small businesses, restaurant and hotel service businesses, etc. by calling to book rooms and tables, then requesting rare Western wines and foods that the business establishment would have difficulty supplying. Then, they would introduce a fake business establishment to provide the aforementioned wines or foods, and at the same time, request a deposit before delivery. If anyone is not vigilant, they will certainly be scammed.
In the face of the increasing number of high-tech scams, Nghe An Provincial Police have recently issued continuous warnings about scams on the internet. The authorities also recommend that people, organizations, individuals and businesses be vigilant when receiving phone calls from strangers, claiming to be officials of state agencies and judicial agencies, or impersonating bank, post office, insurance, inspection, customs staff... asking for money, valuable postal gifts or paying fees, repaying unspecified debts.
At the same time, absolutely do not provide personal information, phone number, ID card number (citizen identification), home address, bank account number, OTP code on personal phone... to anyone you do not know or when you do not know your identity and background. When you receive messages via social networking sites asking to borrow money, buy phone cards, request money transfers to verify accounts; request bank accounts to receive money from abroad... you need to be especially vigilant, absolutely do not follow, avoid falling into the "trap" of scammers./.