Almost lost 250 million VND because of a phone call impersonating the police
On the afternoon of December 14, Lang Chanh Town Police, Lang Chanh District, Thanh Hoa Province coordinated with the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam (Agribank) Lang Chanh Branch to promptly prevent a fraud of VND 250 million via cyberspace.
Accordingly, at 1:57 p.m. on December 14, Ms. Nguyen Thi Oanh (born in 1957), residing in Chi Linh quarter, Lang Chanh town, received a phone call from a stranger, claiming to be named Ha, an officer of Lang Chanh district police, and asked Ms. Oanh to connect Zalo with a person named Thuan in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.
After Ms. Oanh added him as a friend on Zalo, Thuan informed Ms. Oanh that Ms. Oanh was opening an illegal account for a person named Long at Dong A Bank.
To increase trust, Thuan continued to connect the phone to another person and this person introduced himself as Colonel Tran Ngoc Hai, working at the Government Inspectorate. Next, Hai asked Ms. Oanh to keep the incident a secret, otherwise, her life and that of her family would not be guaranteed... At the same time, Hai asked Ms. Oanh to declare her assets, bank accounts, savings books...
When they discovered that Ms. Oanh had money in a savings account opened at the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Lang Chanh Branch, they asked Ms. Oanh to go to the bank to withdraw money and transfer it to an account provided by the subject to "serve the investigation". They asked Ms. Oanh, when withdrawing money, to lie to the bank staff that she was transferring money to the account to buy land...
Due to being too scared, at 4:00 p.m. the same day, Ms. Oanh went to the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Lang Chanh Branch, to withdraw all of her savings of 250 million VND to transfer to the account provided by the subject.
While Ms. Oanh was withdrawing money, the bank staff noticed that her attitude was very unusual, showing signs of anxiety and worry, so they discussed the situation, stopped the transaction, and immediately reported it to the Lang Chanh Town Police.
Upon receiving information about the incident, Captain Le Duy Trung - Head of Lang Chanh Town Police went to the transaction office of the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, Lang Chanh Branch, to meet Ms. Oanh to grasp the situation, and at the same time explain and propagate the methods and tricks of the fraudsters to Ms. Oanh, thanks to which the fraud was promptly prevented.
