What to do to avoid losing money in electronic payments?

"Fall into the trap"

Ms. D.TTT is the owner of a mother and baby goods store in Tan Huong commune (Ninh Giang), so she is used to cashless payments. But even so, she still cannot avoid risks. Ms. T. still remembers the story of losing money in a transaction that happened at the end of last year. At that time, a young man came into the store to buy 2 boxes of milk for children, the total order was worth more than 1 million VND. After performing a few operations, the young man showed a photo of the successful transfer to Ms. T. and said that he had to go home urgently, so she agreed to let him take the milk out of the store. After that, still not receiving the money, Ms. T. checked the money transfer message and discovered that the receipt that the young man gave and other receipts from the same bank where customers had transferred money to buy goods for her were different. The transaction code in the young man's receipt included a string of characters containing both letters and numbers. While other transaction codes of this bank are 10-digit character strings.

Ms. Le Mai Phuong in Hai Duong City once lost 5 million VND because a bad guy pretended to be a friend and borrowed money through Facebook. At that time, because the subject urged her, she transferred money to her bank account without confirming or verifying the information from her friend. Recently, Ms. Phuong posted on Facebook to rent a shop. Then a Facebook account named MD contacted her. This person said he was in Korea and wanted to return to Vietnam to rent a shop and wanted to deposit the rent. After that, Ms. Phuong gave her bank account number, this man said he would go to the counter to transfer money and asked if she had received it. At this time, Ms. Phuong still had not received the money, so the above man asked Ms. Phuong to talk to the international transaction staff. These two people continuously instructed her to click on the link in the text message to exchange US dollars for Vietnamese currency. Ms. Phuong did not agree, so they continued to instruct her to confirm the money over the phone. When Ms. Phuong said she only needed to focus on getting money into her account and not do anything else, these people immediately insulted her and blocked her on Facebook.

Ms. Phuong’s story is similar to some stories shared by sellers on many groups and online markets in Hai Duong. It can be seen that many cases of cashless payments have resulted in money being lost due to “falling into traps” due to increasingly sophisticated scammers’ tricks. If you are not alert, you can easily fall into their trap.

Convenience must go hand in hand with safety

Since the end of 2016, when the Government issued the Project on developing non-cash payments for the period 2016 - 2020, non-cash payments have become more and more popular. Since 2019, June 16 has been proposed as "Cashless Day" in Vietnam.

According to statistics from the latest report of the State Bank of Vietnam, Hai Duong branch, from the beginning of the implementation of mobile banking and internet banking services to the end of March 2024, the banking system in the province has opened nearly 8 million accounts for customers. These accounts have performed nearly 51 million transactions, with a transaction value of more than VND 17,216,799 billion. The number of transactions via electronic channels accounts for 89.5% of the total transaction volume, of which payment via mobile banking applications accounts for 72%, and via internet banking channels accounts for 17.5%.

By the end of May 2024, the whole province had nearly 1,900 POS machines (point of sale machines accepting bank cards to pay service bills), an increase of 5 machines compared to the end of April 2024, an increase of 59 machines compared to the beginning of 2024.

The above preliminary statistics show that electronic payments are becoming more and more popular. Ms. Nguyen Thi Quynh Diep, Head of Personal Customer Department of Agribank Hai Duong branch, said: “Not only urban areas but also rural people in Hai Duong are gradually getting used to “clicking” to pay. In terms of trends, payment via QR code is better received by people than payment via POS machine. Because with QR code, people only need to use a smartphone with an electronic banking application installed. With POS, it is necessary to swipe a bank card, meaning people need to carry the card in their wallet, which is more inconvenient”. According to a quick report, in the entire Agribank Hai Duong branch system, by the end of May 2024, there were about 250,000 customers regularly using electronic banking applications in transactions, an increase of more than 16% over the same period last year.

The convenience of cashless payments is easy to see. However, there are still many unfortunate cases as mentioned above. Banks in the province recommend that people should regularly change their passwords and use two-layer security for social network accounts and bank accounts. Absolutely do not access unofficial websites, do not install software or applications of unknown origin. When relatives or friends ask to receive or borrow money through social networks, do not do it immediately but contact them directly to check via personal phone number or video call, or test with questions that only the two of you know and have not been exchanged via social network messages.

People must be vigilant when receiving calls from landline numbers, the caller claiming to be an officer of a state agency, especially the police force, to notify and request investigation of a case over the phone, do not provide personal information, phone number, home address... to any subject when not knowing clearly the identity and background of that person, especially do not listen to the subjects transferring money to the accounts designated by the subjects.

“When buying goods online, people need to carefully screen and check the advertising and sales information about the goods, the seller’s identity, choose a reputable address, and transparent payment methods. People absolutely do not lend or rent personal documents such as citizen identification cards, bank cards, and do not transfer money or receive money transfers when someone they do not know asks for help,” Ms. Diep added.

Closely monitor QR code stickers in payments

About 2 months ago, a friend of mine had a QR code overlaid on the shop's QR code by a thief. My friend told me that customers who enter the cafe often scan the QR code to pay. Normally, after a few seconds, my friend receives a notification that the money has been successfully received. However, that day, after the customer paid but after a few minutes still did not receive the notification, my friend had to ask again. The customer showed him the notification that the money had been successfully transferred. However, the money had been transferred to another account.

The loophole in QR code payments is that bad guys can easily overwrite other QR codes. By impersonating customers and taking advantage of the shop owner's negligence, bad guys can overwrite other QR codes in just a few seconds. The account that receives the money is often not the owner's account, making it difficult to track down. On the "black market", junk bank accounts can be bought for just a few million VND. Bad guys are willing to spend this amount of money because scams can bring them a much larger difference.

Therefore, not only my coffee shop, but other places that accept QR code payments need to be more vigilant, closely monitor the places where QR codes are placed, and regularly check for unusual signs at these QR code locations. QR codes must be accompanied by account holder information. When transferring money to pay for goods and services, customers need to carefully check the information from the QR code. If they find anything different from the account holder information, they need to stop the payment and notify the shop owner.

Strengthening safety measures for users

I see that in rural areas, especially middle-aged or elderly people, they still have the habit of using cash. Those who often use electronic payment methods in rural areas are mostly young people. In my family, my children also often use their phones to transfer money when shopping. Recently, through the media, I learned about many scams, users lost money, bank accounts were taken over, so I am very worried and told my children to be more vigilant. I hope that in the future, the authorities will take measures to tighten management and increase the handling of this type of crime so that people can feel more secure in electronic payments.

Be careful to avoid risks

In the past few years, I have seen a strong development in cashless payments. In supermarkets, convenience stores, and traditional markets in urban areas, it is not difficult to see cashless payment methods such as QR code scanning, card swiping, e-wallets, etc.

If in the past, I always had to carry cash when going out, now, I only need to bring my smartphone to be able to shop and make transactions as needed. In addition to my main job, I also do online business to increase my income. Due to the nature of my work, I often use non-cash payment methods in my business. During the process of using it, I have drawn some experiences for myself to avoid possible risks. For example, when customers transfer money, they often have the habit of taking a photo of the transaction receipt and sending it back to me. I have the habit of confirming by checking whether my bank account has received the money or not, not just relying on the transaction receipt sent by the customer. In addition, I also do not click on strange links. When picking up goods or shopping, I also carefully check information such as account number, bank, and recipient's name before clicking the money transfer order to avoid making wrong transfers or encountering unfortunate incidents.