Le Duy Chien, 32 years old, pretended to be a shipper and called hundreds of online shoppers, saying "orders were sent to the old place", asking for money transfers, and embezzling more than 450 million VND.
On November 25, Hanoi City Police said they had coordinated with the Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention Department to arrest Chien for the crime.Fraudulent appropriation of property.
According to the police, Chien used to be a delivery man so he knew well the shipping and delivery methods and the habits of many people who buy online but don't have time to receive them in person. They often tell the shipper to send the goods to acquaintances, leave them at their doorsteps or "leave them at the same place" and then transfer the money. He planned to steal the money from the buyers.
To get information about his "prey", Chien regularly follows the Facebook Fanpages of online shops, especially live sales sessions. He reads comments on orders; gets phone numbers, delivery addresses of customers, purchased items...
Chien then used dozens of junk SIM cards to call the buyer, claiming to be the shop's delivery person. If the recipient said he wasn't home, Chien would suggest sending the goods to an acquaintance, the building's receptionist, or "sending them to the old place". If the customer agreed, Chien would text the account number and request a money transfer. If the customer said he would come to receive the goods in person, he would block the contact number.
Using this trick, from the beginning of April 2024 until now, Chien has defrauded hundreds of victims with an amount of money appropriated more than 450 million VND.
According to Hanoi Police, recently, the trick of impersonating delivery staff to call and inform about orders has appeared more and more. Buyers, due to their subjectivity and "out of habit", have fallen into the trap.
The police recommend that people should be vigilant when receiving goods purchased online, and should only transfer money after receiving and checking it in person. Furthermore, people should absolutely not access strange links and not provide OTP codes to anyone.
Currently, businesses operating postal and delivery services all have websites and applications to look up information on waybill codes and shipping schedules. Therefore, people should proactively access them to track the order schedule, ensuring that the correct order has been placed before receiving the goods. People also need to keep personal information, addresses, mobile phone numbers confidential and especially not make them public on social networks.
HA (according to VnE)