Why do many people 'fall into the trap' when threatened over the phone?
Hearing the "police officer" say he was involved in a drug ring, the man immediately logged into a fake link to "declare his assets" and lost nearly 1.5 billion VND.
Hanoi police said that at the end of April, this person reported receiving a phone call from a "Da Nang City Police officer", informing him of his involvement in a drug trafficking ring, with a 6-month detention order. He was sent a link from the "Police Agency" to "Log in and declare assets to serve the investigation of the origin of the money". Out of worry, he believed the words and followed the results, when checking the assets, he discovered that nearly 1.5 billion VND was missing.
Two weeks earlier, an elderly man also in Hanoi reported that a thief had stolen more than 5 billion VND from his account. Still repeating the same old story, a stranger called him to inform him that he was "related to a case under investigation", asking him to provide bank assets for verification. Using many psychological tricks to cause confusion, they successfully carried out the operation, withdrawing all the victim's money.
These are just two of many cases where scammers prey on victims' fears to steal money. Authorities say this type of scam has been going on for years, and has recently blossomed "like mushrooms after the rain" with more sophisticated tricks.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, in the first quarter of 2022, domestic police arrested and handled 372 cases of online fraud and property appropriation, including many cases impersonating judicial agencies.
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| An arrest warrant forged by a criminal to scare the victim. Photo: Police provided. |
Senior Lieutenant Hoang Van Vy - Deputy Captain of the Social Order Crime Prevention Team, Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department (Ha Tinh Police) analyzed that impersonators use tricks to attack people's trust. Normally, when hearing someone calling claiming to be an officer of the police, court, prosecutor's office... most people will have some trust. Hearing a few sentences, thinking they are talking to "people working in law enforcement agencies", the listener will have the mentality of needing to be vindicated, wanting to explain that the large amount of money they own is legal.
For those who have little knowledge about the legal process, the phrase "investigative agency" is very easy to cause anxiety, just hearing it makes them "sweat". Understanding this, when lured into the trap, the scammers will divide their members into different roles such as police officers, court... continuously calling to put pressure. The purpose is to make the victim even more worried, their mind will be dominated by many vague thoughts, not having time or not thinking to verify the threatening information they fabricate.
Some people are threatened for fear of losing their reputation and are afraid to tell their relatives and friends about the incident. Some people are also sometimes too confident in themselves, thinking they won't be fooled easily, so they silently perform the actions given by the scammers "to see what they will do". However, most of them then lose control and get caught up in the game, because the scammers are more organized and skillful, said Senior Lieutenant Vy.
Having met with some suspects impersonating judicial agencies, Senior Lieutenant Hoang Van Vy said that they are very sophisticated, operating in a "fishing net" style. They call 100-200 people every day, but if one person "falls into the trap", it is considered a success. They also conceal their identity and background very carefully, when caught they always "test their courage", and only confess after many days.
In addition, the above organizations gather members with very high knowledge of information technology, know how to make websites that look like the interfaces of major banks to lure victims. When the "prey" creates an account and transfers money on the website they created, they accidentally reveal their password and OTP code.
According to the authorities, the difficulty in fighting this type of crime partly comes from the victims. Many people feel ashamed, afraid, do not want to report, or sometimes when approached by the police, they still avoid it, wanting to delete related data.
The police advise people not to panic when they receive threatening phone calls from people pretending to be from the judicial authorities. When receiving threatening information, they need to verify it specifically, call the State agency to check, do not work online or by phone. If they are suspicious, they should call the nearest police station to report.
In addition, to avoid "trouble", people should not disclose personal information on social networks, e-commerce sites when shopping online, and refuse to follow strangers' requests for installation instructions, logging into applications...
"Everyone needs to be vigilant against any threatening or enticing calls from strangers. Don't wait until the cows are gone before building a barn," said Senior Lieutenant Vy, adding that cracking down on fraud rings that pretend to be law enforcement agencies is not simple, because many cases have international elements, suspects use high-tech measures, and place servers abroad. When they are caught, recovering assets for victims is also very complicated.
