Hunting for virtual sales, losing real money
Livestream sales have become a popular trend, especially at the end of the year when warehouse clearance programs with “shocking” discounts attract thousands of consumers. However, in addition to benefits such as low prices and convenience, many people have encountered “half-crying, half-laughing” situations when the products they received were not as expected, of poor quality, or even scammed.
Reporting to Lao Dong, Ms. Hoang Khanh Phuong (Thanh Tri district, Hanoi) is one of many victims who fell into the trap of "hunting" for cheap warehouse clearance sales on TikTok livestream. Pregnant with her first child in the second month of pregnancy, she searched for some essential items to use when giving birth, including breast pumps, baby bottle cleaning tools... With the advertisement of "shocking prices in 10 minutes", "cheap combo" on a livestream channel selling the above items, Ms. Phuong hastily placed an order without checking carefully.
According to Ms. Phuong, the average price of a genuine double electric breast pump is 800,000 VND - 1,000,000 VND. Therefore, when she saw an advertisement to buy a combo including a breast pump and a milk warmer for just over 1 million VND, Ms. Phuong immediately paid.
"The price was great when I really needed it, so I didn't think twice. The product came with all the tags and labels, but when I tried to plug it in, it didn't work. When I tried to contact the seller again, I couldn't get through, then I realized I was scammed," Ms. Phuong shared.
Ms. Dinh Quynh Anh (27 years old, Cau Giay district, Hanoi) said that after the Black Friday sale, she continuously received calls from many strange phone numbers. The subjects claimed to be shippers and asked for payment for the sale orders.
“The content of the orders were not the same as the orders I had placed on e-commerce platforms, so I refused to pay. However, these people kept calling and demanding payment with the excuse that the goods had been delivered to my home. There were days when I received nearly ten such calls, which was very annoying,” said Quynh Anh.
Fraudulent transformation at the end of the year
Speaking to Lao Dong reporter, Associate Professor Dr. Do Canh Thin - a criminal psychology expert - assessed that the number of fraud cases has increased sharply, with sophisticated fraud methods. The expert explained that the high demand for shopping during this time has created opportunities for criminals to use many and diverse fraud methods to appropriate property, mainly fraud in cyberspace.
Notably, the subjects used e-commerce platforms and social networks like Facebook to buy and sell virtual currency and sell products with promises of shocking discounts.
Taking advantage of the user habit analysis feature of social networking platforms, the subjects create fake Fanpages or fake websites that are identical to the official pages of major brands to approach victims through advertisements about products that the victims are interested in, thereby enticing the victims to place orders at high discounts in order to appropriate the victims' assets.
"Fraudulent activities not only cause outrage among victims but also seriously affect social order and safety," Mr. Thin emphasized.
Faced with the increasing trend of cyber fraud at the end of the year, impersonation scams are constantly changing, the police agency warns people to raise their vigilance, proactively protect personal information, especially important information such as ID cards, bank account information; do not be greedy for assets, gifts of unknown origin that can be received easily, profits received without labor.
In particular, people should not transfer money or provide OTP codes to individuals they do not know; they should be careful and verify information received from social networks and unknown calls. In case of suspected fraud, people should immediately report to the nearest police station for instructions on how to handle the situation.
