Risk of personal information theft when asking a "broker" to quickly make a passport

Taking advantage of the fact that some people are not familiar with information technology and do not know how to submit applications online, many pages and groups of "brokers" have appeared on social networks offering quick passports.

According to Hanoi City Police, recently, on the social network Facebook, many pages and groups of "brokers" have appeared posting articles about "passport making" such as "Fast passport making service", "Fast and cheap passport making in Hanoi", "Fast passport (passport), Vietnam entry and exit visa"... with the cost of these "fast services" many times higher than the fees prescribed by the State.

Some bad guys also take advantage of this to steal personal information such as: portrait photos, citizen identification cards, phone numbers, emails, permanent addresses, OTP codes... to commit other illegal acts in cyberspace such as: registering to open bank accounts, borrowing money on online applications; stealing Facebook accounts, VNeID...

Then, the bad guys used this account to fraudulently borrow money from relatives and friends, and took over all personal residence information of many people in the VNeID application.

Previously, the police in localities such as Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Dong Thap... also warned people to be wary of "services" and "brokers" that make passports quickly.

Attractive offers on social networking sites such as “no need to go far, no queuing, no waiting, home delivery, fast passport service at low cost…” from “brokers” have attracted the attention of many people.

The "service" and "broker" subjects do not use the citizen's phone number to write on the passport application form, but write the subject's phone number or write the wrong permanent address to falsely declare the passport application content, hindering the Immigration Management officers from contacting the citizen when necessary to notify or request additional documents, thus prolonging the time to issue the citizen's passport.

Through phone numbers, subjects claiming to be citizens grasp the content that requires additional documents, "painting" difficulties to continue making illegal profits.

When they did not receive their passports, citizens went to the Immigration Department to ask and found out that their documents had not been supplemented for processing. This greatly affected the passport issuance process, causing a “half-crying, half-laughing” situation for citizens when submitting their applications online.

In fact, currently, receiving passport applications online on the National Public Service Portal and the Ministry of Public Security's Public Service Portal creates great convenience for citizens. People can take the initiative in time and location, submit applications more quickly and easily, without having to go directly to the police agency to complete the application procedures.

To prevent fraud and information theft, authorities recommend that people should submit their passport applications online on the National Public Service Portal or the Ministry of Public Security's Public Service Portal.

In case of being unable to submit the application, people can ask relatives, friends, acquaintances, reputable people, people who are knowledgeable about information technology or go directly to the police station where they reside for specific and detailed instructions.

People absolutely do not provide personal information, do not use "online services" on social networks.

When encountering cases with signs of fraud, people need to contact the police to promptly resolve the case according to regulations.