The fact that the "Million Smiles" enterprise defrauded tens of billions of dong from the QFS coin project - a virtual currency and a mythical and fabricated product, but attracted hundreds of participants with tens of billions of dong, has raised big questions about people's awareness and skills to prevent fraud.
According to a report by the National Cyber Security Association, in 2024, 1 in 220 internet users in Vietnam will become a victim of online fraud, causing losses of up to VND18,900 billion.
In 2023, a report from the Global Anti-Fraud Alliance (GASA) also showed that Vietnamese people lost up to 16 billion USD (according to hypothetical calculations) due to online fraud, accounting for nearly one-third of the total global loss of 53 billion USD.
These figures show that Vietnam is truly a low-lying area in terms of awareness of fraudulent information and self-protection skills on the Internet environment.
It is undeniable that fraud is becoming increasingly sophisticated, from investment tricks promising high profits, impersonating organizations, to applying artificial intelligence (AI) technology such as Deepfake to build trust.
However, in addition to the sophistication of scams, greed and lack of basic knowledge about information security of many people have created opportunities for criminals to profit.
In fact, many people participate in models like "Million Smiles" with the desire to get rich quickly without caring about the reasonableness, legality or reality of the invitation.
They are willing to spend millions of dong on virtual currencies - not even real digital currencies like QFS - which are advertised as having spiritual elements and guaranteed by "legendary" families.
To minimize this situation, strong and synchronous measures are needed from many sides. First of all, the authorities need to step up monitoring and promptly handle new forms of online fraud.
At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen international cooperation to share information and methods to deal with cybercrime.
But more importantly, people must be aware of protecting themselves by constantly equipping themselves with basic knowledge about information security and skills in using the Internet.
Be calm when faced with opportunities to get rich, avoid being led by greed, and ask questions when faced with unrealistically attractive invitations like the "Million Smiles" case.
Incidents like this are not only valuable lessons for the victims but also profound warnings to the whole society.
Only when people, authorities and organizations unite to raise awareness and capacity to prevent fraud can we build a safe and healthy online environment, and reduce "fake smiles" in exchange for real tears of pain!
