Warning about a multi-billion dollar scam when registering for an online 'running race'.
Taking advantage of parents' desire to encourage their children's physical fitness, some individuals use social media to create fake running events, then lure parents into registering and subsequently defraud them of their money.
According to Hanoi City Police, in recent years, marathon races have become a sporting event for families.
Many parents want their children to have a healthy and beneficial playground to develop physically and mentally, so they register their children for running races to help them train.
Taking advantage of this situation, some individuals have used social media to create fake running events, then lured parents into registering and subsequently attempted to scam them.misappropriation of property.
Recently, Ms. T (residing in Hanoi) accessed an advertisement on the Facebook page "KIDS RUN - Marathon" for a running event for children aged 4-15 and their families.
This Facebook page regularly posts about the prize structure of the competition, such as: All the money from gifts for outstanding athletes will be used to fund a charity trip after the race ends, a race for the benefit of the people, a race for the green forests…
Seeing this as a fun and beneficial activity for her child, Ms. T messaged to register and was asked by the "Organizers" to participate in a survey for parents in order to be officially considered for membership in the parent group for interaction and exchange.
Upon joining the group, she was asked by a "parent" to perform a task to help the race sponsors boost product sales.
After two small transfers of 850,000 VND and 3,000,000 VND, she received the full amount back.
When the amount increased, Ms. T did not receive her money back and was messaged by the "fake parents" in the group, who said, "You also didn't get your money back, but after completing additional tasks, you received the full amount for both times."
Suspecting fraud, Ms. T requested that the other parents send photos of their ID cards. Finding the ID photos trustworthy, she continued to transfer money seven more times, totaling nearly 1 billion VND.
At that point, she couldn't withdraw the money, so she realized she had been scammed and reported the incident to the police.
To prevent fraud, the Hanoi City Police Department urges citizens to be cautious when participating in social media. Absolutely do not follow instructions to transfer money to any individual or organization for any reason unless the recipient's identity has been accurately verified.
When detecting any cases showing signs of fraud, citizens should immediately report them to the nearest police station.