Message with suspicious link
Mr. Cao Hung (character name changed on request) in Hanoi said that he had received a message from a phone number with the content "If your car violates, handle it immediately". The message was sent with a link with a domain name containing the phrase "dichvucong".
When accessing the link and typing his license plate in the search box, Mr. Hung saw a red line on the screen: "We announce that you have violated the Traffic Law and are fined 50,000 VND for parking causing obstruction. Please pay this fine early to avoid incurring additional costs. To pay, please follow the instructions below".
This page also integrates an online payment function, requiring users to enter full bank card information such as card number, cardholder name, expiration date and CVV code.
To be careful, Mr. Hung searched Google for "penalty level for parking obstruction" and found that the fine was not 50,000 VND. After that, looking closely at the link in the message, he discovered that this was a fake website link "National Public Service Portal".
Reporters tried to access the website that Mr. Hung was sent to. The website's domain contained misleading phrases such as "dichvucong", adding some minor details such as crosswords, reversing the position of the letters.
As soon as you open the page, the interface appears with a layout, color and logo designed almost similar to the "National Public Service Portal", which can easily lead users to confuse if they do not observe carefully.
The website requires entering vehicle license plates to look up violations. However, when reporters tried to randomly enter 5 different license plates, the system returned the same result: obstructive parking error, identical violation time and fixed fine of 50,000 VND. This shows that the data was not retrieved from any official database but was just a pre-arranged script.
Notably, immediately after the lookup step, the website immediately directs users to the "online payment" section, requiring them to enter full bank card information, including CVV/CVC code.
Exposing the CVV code is giving the "key" to hackers
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thin - security expert of the Anti-Scam Project, online scams are undergoing a remarkable change. If in the past, fraudsters often tried to lure victims to transfer money directly, now they are switching to exploiting bank card information, especially CVV/CVC security codes.
This trick makes many people lose vigilance, because of the mentality that: "Before transferring money, you haven't lost money". However, in reality, it hides very high risks.
If this information is leaked, especially the CVV/CVC code, fraudsters can completely take advantage of it to carry out online shopping or payment transactions.
Leaking CVV/CVC code is no different from giving "keys" to hackers" - Mr. Thin said. According to the expert, people should absolutely not access strange links, do not provide bank card information or OTP codes to any individuals or websites of unknown origin.
Hanoi City Police affirmed that there is currently no form of notification of traffic safety violations via text message or telephone. Violations are all notified in writing by the police agency, inviting vehicle owners, organizations, and individuals involved to the police agency headquarters to work.
In case of receiving a violation notice from functional agencies, vehicle owners need to directly go to the address stated in the notice to work with the police agency.
People who need to look up administrative violations can access the Electronic Information Page of the Traffic Police Department at: "www. csgt. vn" or through the VNeTraffic Application operated by the Traffic Police Department - Ministry of Public Security.
