Reported loss of 750 million VND when participating in the game 'love lottery'

On March 9, the Criminal Police Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) said that in early March, Ms. Yen, 42 years old, said she was invited to join the Facebook group "dating club - connecting love". Having experienced a broken marriage, Ms. Yen was easily persuaded when a person claiming to be the group administrator texted and chatted, encouraging her to make friends with other members to get to know each other and possibly meet someone with whom she had a similar interest. Hearing this, she became more open and shared more.

She expressed her wish to find a man who was gentle, caring for his family, and financially stable. According to that standard, the group manager provided information about a man named Van Thanh Nam, known as "the prince charming", with a bright appearance, doing business, whose wife died 5 years ago, was raising a child over 10 years old, and was looking for a "serious relationship".

Every day, the matchmaker kept texting her, introducing information about her "dream lover"; then said that contacting on Facebook was inconvenient, and wanted Ms. Yen to use Telegram to connect and introduce her "boyfriend" for more convenience, and also to ensure privacy due to the partner's request. Ms. Yen agreed.

In the Teglegram group, the administrator invited Ms. Yen to participate in the "love lottery" game. According to the rules, dozens of members in the group had to pay a one million dong "service fee". If they won, the player would meet the "prince charming" that the program had introduced in advance and would have the fee refunded.

After completing the transaction, Ms. Yen was asked to pay additional fees such as: identity verification, love connection contract, account activation... from 10 to 30 million VND, each fee is always higher than the previous one. If the player does not continue to pay the fee, the previous transactions will be canceled, which means the lover of her dreams will not appear.

After depositing more than 86 million VND into the game application, Ms. Yen still received a message saying that her account was broken and she had to reactivate and pay more money. Seeing that she was starting to waver, the group manager sent her a message encouraging her to continue playing to get her money back, otherwise all the money she had previously transferred would be lost.

"Fearing losing money, I borrowed money from friends and relatives and paid a total of more than 750 million VND. After closing the transaction, the program's Telegram account was immediately deleted, and the link to the dating group on Facebook was also gone," Ms. Yen reported to the police.

Since the beginning of the year, the Criminal Police Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) has received dozens of reports from victims (mostly single women) who fell into the "online dating" trap. Some people lost tens of millions of dong, while others lost more than half a billion dong. The investigation was difficult because the perpetrators used fake accounts.

According to investigators, the above scam is not new, but it is becoming more and more sophisticated. The scammers have approached women whose marriages have broken down to confide in them and deceive them emotionally. When they become closer, they lure them into a closed group on Telegram and invite them to participate in games, but these are actually applications they wrote themselves, the game accounts are also virtual, the money deposited into them will be manipulated and cannot be withdrawn.

"In fact, the group only has victims and scammers. When they hesitate to pay, the other members will act as a role, texting them that they have just paid to fix their accounts and have been refunded, and many people fall into the trap," said the police.

Authorities warn people to be wary of online dating and matchmaking groups. Invitations to transfer money to meet a "soul mate" online are scams.

* Reporter's name has been changed