Scam calls still rampant in rural areas

Many types of scams

In June 2023, Ms. PTN, born in 1971, in Le Loi commune (Gia Loc), was invited to be friends via Zalo by two strangers, impersonating police officers and calling to say that she was a suspect in a human trafficking ring abroad and drug trafficking. The subjects also threatened to send an arrest warrant for Ms. N., and at the same time asked Ms. N. to deposit money into the subject's account to help her get out on bail. "Although I said I was not involved in the above acts, the subjects kept calling to pressure me. In the video, they were dressed in police uniforms, which scared me, and they followed the request to transfer money into their accounts to help me escape the crime with a total amount of 195 million VND. A few days later, they did not come to my house to return the money as promised, I called them on Zalo but could not contact them," said Ms. N.

Using similar tricks, last October, Mr. T., a retired cadre in Hoang Dieu commune (Gia Loc), was also called by subjects impersonating Hanoi City Police to defraud nearly 400 million VND.

Luckily, more recently, 4 people in Gia Loc and 1 person in Binh Giang were discovered and stopped by the police and bank staff before they could transfer money to scammers. The person with the most money almost lost 650 million VND.

Not only receiving scam calls involving criminal offenses, people in rural areas also receive many calls impersonating organizations inviting them to do "easy work with high salary", invest in real estate, stocks...

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung in Long Xuyen commune (Binh Giang) said: "Recently, I received a call from a strange number introducing a stock trading app. This person said that there would be a consultant to place trading orders and committed to making a profit, I just need to open an account, deposit a sum of money as capital. The larger the investment amount, the higher the interest rate. Knowing that this is a form of fraud, I did not participate and blocked this phone number."

Online shopping, opening multiple bank accounts, and cashless payments also create loopholes for fraudsters to exploit. Fraudsters are also shifting their focus to rural areas because people here have limited awareness of fraud and protection of personal information when participating in social networks.

Not yet "junk" SIM

Users are still being bothered by scam calls because the standardization of mobile subscriber information has not completely solved the problem of "junk" SIMs. Many "junk" SIMs are pre-activated with other people's information and match national population data, so they can still be used normally.

Although network operators have stopped selling SIM cards through agents since September 10, according to the reporter's investigation, the buying and selling of "junk" SIM cards in localities in the province is still quite popular. On November 9, at a phone store on Nguyen Che Nghia Street (Gia Loc town), customers can easily buy pre-activated "junk" SIM cards for 60,000 VND/SIM, with a 0 VND account balance, and can be recharged immediately. The owner of this store said that as long as a call is made, the SIM card will not be locked. If the customer has a need, the store owner will also register the subscriber for the customer using their citizen identification card.

Faced with this situation, the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) is coordinating with network operators to inspect, clarify and ensure the suspension of SIM sales at agents. In early November, the Department of Telecommunications announced the suspension of the trial implementation of standardizing mobile subscriber information online.

The Ministry of Information and Communications also pioneered call identification to limit the situation of making calls impersonating agencies and organizations. Accordingly, all phone numbers calling people from units under this ministry will display the identifier "BO TTTT". However, to promote effectiveness, call identification needs to be replicated in many agencies, organizations and businesses nationwide.

Mr. Pham Huy Thang, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Hai Duong, said that the department is strengthening the direction and inspection of telecommunications enterprises in the area to strictly implement the new instructions of the Ministry of Information and Communications. Through digital transformation training courses in localities in the province, it propagates the prevention of fraudulent calls to members of the digital technology team of the community in villages and residential areas.

In addition to actively fighting and cracking down on high-tech crimes, Hai Duong Provincial Police continue to coordinate with localities to propagate and distribute leaflets warning of fraudulent tricks, emphasizing that state agencies do not handle cases over the phone so that people know. Cooperate with network operators to send text messages to notify of fraud forms, and place warning signs at bank transaction offices so that people can be more vigilant before making transactions and transferring money.