Warning about job scams, calling for charity on social media during Tet

Job scams flourish on social networks

Recently, the Criminal Police Department of Thanh Hoa Province Police announced that it had just initiated a case, prosecuted the accused, and temporarily detained Nguyen Thi Thanh - 38 years old, residing in Kim Tan town, Thach Thanh district - to investigate the crime of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

According to one of the victims of the above subject, Mr. BVT (43 years old, in Dong Huong ward, Thanh Hoa city), had transferred to Thanh many times a total of more than 400 million VND to find jobs for some of his relatives. After many promises, Mr. T's relatives were not able to get jobs, at this time the victim realized he had been scammed and reported to Thanh Hoa Provincial Police.

Accordingly, the subject did not have a stable job, often renting an apartment in Thanh Hoa City to live. However, Thanh always introduced himself as familiar with many people and businesses, and could apply for jobs at large companies, with a stable income of 10 million to 30 million VND (depending on the job position). In addition, the subject gave reasons and required the victims to deposit 5 - 10 million VND to be accepted to work at the company, the deposit would be refunded by the company after 3 months of work. For those who want to work as a passenger car driver, they must deposit from 10 million to 30 million VND. After two years of working, if they do not quit the job voluntarily, the company will refund the deposit. Believing Thanh's words, many people transferred money to the subject's account to deposit with the hope of getting a stable job position. However, this was completely a scam to steal the victims' money.

Faced with the above situation, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) has repeatedly issued warnings to people, especially workers and job seekers. People should be cautious with job referrals on social networks; need to carefully research the referral and the policies of the company mentioned by the subject. Absolutely do not deposit money to subjects in any form without clearly understanding the information and level of reputation.

People who are looking for a job should go to reputable offices, companies or their official websites; absolutely do not trust those who ask for a deposit in advance.

Warning about social media scams calling for charity

Recently, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention of the Provincial Police and the Department of Criminal Police of the Provincial Police arrested a group of subjects who committed fraud and appropriated property by calling for charity on cyberspace.

The arrested subjects include: Nguyen Hong Han (born in 1999); Nguyen Khanh Duy (born in 1995); Le Huyen Tran (born in 2004); Huynh Thanh Toan (born in 1997) and Tran Thi Kieu (born in 1970). After searching the subjects' residences, the police force seized: 4 computers, dozens of phone SIM cards, many mobile phones, motorbikes and some other related evidence.

According to police records, since around 2022, this group of subjects has participated in many associations and groups on the internet, especially volunteer associations and groups. The above subjects took information from difficult circumstances and illnesses that were published in the press and then reposted it on associations and groups calling for help.

The total amount of money the subjects appropriated was nearly 2 billion VND from many people across the country. The case is being further investigated and expanded by the police.

Faced with the above situation, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people should carefully learn about charity and support activities on social networks. This is a condemnable situation when taking advantage of the kindness of philanthropists for personal gain, causing people to lose trust in real charity activities. Therefore, in order for kindness to be given in the right place, people with a charitable heart should choose charity funds and programs organized by the State, organizations, social funds, and charity funds licensed by competent authorities. In case of suspicion of fraud or property appropriation, it is necessary to report to the nearest police agency for timely handling.

Hanoi: Someone was tricked into installing a fake public service app, losing 15.3 billion VND

According to Hanoi City Police, from the beginning of January 2024 to now, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, City Police has received reports from 6 people who were tricked into installing fake public services and had nearly 20.6 billion VND appropriated. Of which, the person who was most appropriated lost 15.3 billion VND and the person who was least appropriated lost 252 million VND.

These criminals often target the elderly, who are less tech-savvy, to commit fraud.

One of the victims was Mr. V., residing in Long Bien district (Hanoi). After accessing the link provided by a subject impersonating a ward police officer, downloading a fake public service application to get a queue number in advance, without having to wait when going to the district to do the procedures, Mr. V. was robbed of 1.3 billion VND in 3 money transfer transactions.

Similarly, Ms. A., residing in Hai Ba Trung District (Hanoi), received a phone call from a man claiming to be a Hai Ba Trung District Police officer and asked her to update her driver's license information at the District Police Station. Because Ms. A. was busy, the fake district police officer instructed her to update her driver's license information online. After downloading the fake public service application provided by the subject, Ms. A. had nearly 1 billion VND stolen from her bank account...

According to Hanoi City Police, the modus operandi of the subjects is to create applications with interfaces similar to the Public Service Portal application. Then, they pretend to be ward/district police officers and announce: Citizen ID cards have not been successfully synchronized with land data, health insurance card information has not been updated, driver's license information has not been updated successfully...; instructing the victims to update online to save time.

The subjects continue to guide people to install fake applications on their phones or access fake application installation links that are similar to the Public Service Portal; from there, the malware will be downloaded to the phone in parallel, allowing the subjects to access the device to access data, take screenshots, read messages, and especially the accessibility rights to take control of the phone. After installing the malware on the victim's device, the subjects will steal the bank account login password and transaction OTP code, execute money transfer orders and appropriate property.

Although this is not a new trick, many people still fall into the trap because they are not knowledgeable about technology and do not regularly update information about public services and cyber security.

The Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people need to be vigilant against strange calls and messages related to officials of competent authorities. Absolutely do not provide personal information, nor follow requests via phone. Do not access links received via text messages; be wary of requests to install software. When installing any application, users need to carefully study the information, do not rush to agree to all terms; should only access and install applications via Google Play (Android) or Apple Store (Apple).

In addition, people should also use biometric account protection methods such as fingerprints, Face ID (face recognition)... to log in to banking applications and payment applications; do not save banking service security information on phone application software. When receiving strange calls and messages from authorities, first proactively contact that agency to verify the call.

Warning: Girl falls into the trap of paying tax on winnings because she trusts her friends playing games on social networks

Recently, the Investigation Police Agency of Bien Hoa City Police (Dong Nai) is temporarily detaining Nguyen Le Hoang Thuy (31 years old, residing in Bien Hoa City) to investigate the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property".

According to the investigation, the scammer met Ms. NTQA (30 years old, from Binh Thuan) through a video game on social networks and had the intention of tricking Ms. A. to get money to pay off her debt. During the conversation while playing the game, the subject claimed to be a sales employee of Mobile World in Ho Chi Minh City, and told the victim that if she wanted to buy a cheap phone, the subject would support her. Gullible, the victim transferred 44.5 million VND to the subject to buy 3 mobile phones. However, after receiving the news, the subject immediately withdrew the money to pay off the debt; when Ms. A. asked about the status of her "order", the subject gave the reason that the phone had not been delivered yet.

Not stopping there, the subject also lied when buying a phone for Ms. A. that she was lucky to win a prize of billions of VND and asked Ms. A. to transfer money to pay 10% tax to receive the prize money. To make Ms. A. trust, Thuy edited the account balance and took a photo to send to the other person. Believing her, Ms. A. transferred money to Thuy many times with an amount of more than 800 million VND. However, because the victim still did not receive any money, suspecting that she was scammed, the victim went to Thanh Binh Ward Police (Bien Hoa City) to report the incident.

Faced with the above situation, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people need to be more vigilant against invitations on social networks. Absolutely do not provide personal information to strangers. People need to carefully research the caller, ask them to provide full information about their full name, position, work unit, address, phone number (if the prize giver is an individual); Company name, specific address, phone number, tax code, business registration certificate (if the prize giver is an enterprise) to learn, look up and verify the subject from many different sources. Contact competent authorities such as the Department of Industry and Trade or the Department of Trade Promotion, Ministry of Industry and Trade for timely answers and support on the promotion and award programs provided by the other party because large promotion and award programs must be registered and licensed.

Warning about online sales scams

In 2023, the Cyber ​​Security Department for High-Tech Crime Prevention of Dak Lak Provincial Police and Buon Ma Thuot City Police received reports from many people about being tricked into selling goods via social networks and then having their deposits stolen by a subject.

Recently, Buon Ma Thuot City Police (Dak Lak) investigated and temporarily detained Tran Quoc Vu (23 years old, residing in Nam N'Jang commune, Dak Song district, Dak Nong) to investigate the act of "Fraudulent appropriation of property" through selling furniture and household appliances online.

At the police station, the subject confessed that because he needed money to spend and gamble online, he had the idea to defraud and appropriate property from many people through social networks. The subject went online to contact an unknown person named "Nhi Xinh" to collude to set up an account to receive money from the victims that Vu had defrauded. After defrauding the victims, the subject instructed them to transfer money to "Nhi Xinh's" account number and agreed to pay "Nhi Xinh" 10% of the amount of money appropriated.

The subject bought social media accounts, posted information about selling furniture and household appliances on groups. When people texted to ask to buy, the subject asked the customers to transfer deposits to "Nhi Xinh" accounts. After receiving the victims' money, Vu blocked communication, appropriated the money, and used it for online gambling.

With the above trick, from January 2023 until his arrest, the subject had defrauded more than 400 people in many provinces and cities, appropriating more than 7 billion VND.

To prevent the above situation from continuing, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people need to be alert when making transactions, not only on social networking sites but also on e-commerce platforms. Users need to check and carefully research information about the seller; only make transactions when the level of reputation has been confirmed and ensure that the seller has sufficient detailed information about the product, quality images and accurate descriptions. At the same time, assess the quality of the product from other buyers' reviews. Do not transfer money or make payments in any form without determining the reputation of the seller and the quality of the product. In addition, people should also learn about the seller's warranty and refund policy to ensure their own rights.

Hanoi: Participating in a program to recruit female fashion models, a woman was robbed of more than 500 million VND.

According to Hanoi City Police, the Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention, City Police have regularly issued warnings about fraudulent tricks to appropriate property through participating in activities aimed at children such as: participating in child speakers, participating in child models, participating in summer camps,...

However, recently, the subjects have continued to expand their target audience to middle-aged women who regularly use Facebook. The subjects set up a Fanpage on social networks and posted information about recruiting fashion models for ladies such as: The company needs to recruit elegant ladies; Opportunity for you to shine, realize your noble beauty and charm through the talented lens of leading photographers; Discover the elegant beauty and charm of photos with modern ladies; We are looking for women who shine with their own unique, classy and charming style. Through the Fanpage, when the victims have a need and contact, the subjects will provide phone numbers, make friends with Zalo and personal information to register. After successfully registering, the ladies will be able to participate in group activities and be asked to choose products such as: dresses, handbags, perfumes, watches... with different amounts of money.

A victim of the scam is Ms. Q. residing in Hanoi. After purchasing the product and receiving a refund of nearly 20 million, Ms. Q. continued to make 10 more transactions with a total amount of nearly 500 million VND but did not receive a refund.

Faced with the trick of registering for a fashion model recruitment for ladies to defraud and appropriate property, the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) recommends that people be careful when looking for information about fashion model recruitment programs on social networking sites to avoid being scammed; Absolutely do not participate in competitions and festivals advertised online without directly verifying and checking information in real life. Do not transfer money according to fraudulent requests. Regularly monitor and update crime information to prevent and propagate to relatives, especially middle-aged people; report to the nearest police station or suspect any of the above tricks.