The Traffic Police Department (CSGT) of the Ministry of Public Security has just issued a warning to people about the trick of forging remote fine notices via text messages to lure them to access strange links, provide personal information or transfer money.
According to the Traffic Police Department, recently text messages with the content "Your vehicle is recorded for violating traffic lights... Within 48 hours, if not handled, the fine will increase by 50%..." appeared.
The self-proclaimed message is "[TTDLQG - Ministry of Public Security]", sent from an international phone number and requires the recipient to access the link to "pay the fine". The link provided is not the official address of the state agency.
The Traffic Police Department assessed that these are unusual signs, with the risk of being fake messages aimed at fraud, appropriation of property or theft of personal information of people.
The Traffic Police Department will coordinate with professional units and relevant functional agencies to verify the source of dissemination, methods, and tricks of the subjects. Acts of impersonating state agencies to defraud, appropriate property or steal information from people will be verified and handled according to legal regulations.
The Traffic Police Department recommends that people raise their vigilance against tricks that take advantage of "cold fines" information to defraud. People should not follow the requests of strangers contacting them by phone or text message to install applications, activate accounts, access links or transfer money.
When receiving messages suspected of being fraudulent, people should absolutely not click on the attached link; do not reply to messages to receive "activated link"; do not provide citizen identification number, driver's license information, bank account, OTP code or password.
People also do not install applications from links or unofficial sources and do not transfer money to accounts provided by the subjects.
If they need to check violation information or pay fines, people need to proactively use the official channels of functional agencies, and do not access links sent from strange phone numbers.
The Traffic Police Department also recommends that when detecting signs of fraud, people should keep messages, phone numbers, links and related information, and notify the Police agency for receipt, verification and handling.
People proactively checking information through official channels will help avoid the risk of being exploited for anxiety about traffic violations to appropriate property or steal personal data.
