In recent days, along with the emergence of cases of one-way SIM locking, many users said they continuously receive messages or calls requesting "urgent verification" to avoid service interruption.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Ms. Nguyen Thu Hang (Hanoi) said that at 0:24 today (May 11), she just received a message informing that her subscriber's SIM was one-way locked due to not completing information verification and requesting access to a link for updates. Although, before that, she had directly gone to the network operator's store to verify information and check that the system had been fully updated.
I also received many calls and messages saying that if I didn't verify immediately, my SIM card would be locked or my number would be revoked, so I was quite confused. Initially, I intended to click on the link but saw a strange address, so I stopped," Ms. Hang shared.
According to Ms. Hang, the time she received the message coincided with the time when many people around were locked, so her psychology became even more worried.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pham Duc Minh (Hai Phong) said that he had received a call claiming to be a network operator employee guiding him to update subscriber information to avoid being double-checked. "They read the correct name and asked me to provide an OTP code to complete verification. Luckily, I was suspicious and did not follow," Mr. Minh said.
According to records, the forms of counterfeiting currently mainly target users' psychology of fear of being locked SIM cards.
The content usually revolves around requesting "urgent verification", "update information to avoid SIM locking" or warning subscribers that services are about to be suspended to urge users to access strange links or provide personal information.
In the context that one-way locking has begun to be implemented, many users easily confuse real notifications from network operators with fake messages.
Network operators recommend only authenticating through official channels
Telecommunications businesses said that the current handling is not applied uniformly to all subscribers. Subscribers who have sufficient, consistent information or have previously confirmed their ownership can still use it normally.
For cases that need verification, the network operator will send notifications through official channels for users to proactively update information.
Telecommunications businesses recommend that people only carry out authentication through the official application of the network operator, the VNeID application or directly at the transaction point.
Users should not access strange links, provide OTP codes, passwords or personal information to unidentified people to avoid the risk of being scammed.
In case of receiving messages or calls requesting to update subscriber information, people should carefully check the sender and compare through official channels before implementing.
If abnormal signs are detected, users should contact the operator's switchboard or transaction point directly for support, avoid following instructions of unknown origin.
