Phu Quoc City Police (Kien Giang) has just sent a document to Phu Quoc City People's Committee; People's Committees of communes and wards about propaganda and prevention of fraud methods in the city.
According to the City Police, recently, there have been a number of cases of subjects impersonating officials of agencies and businesses in the area (using some types of fake documents of agencies and businesses using red seals); using social network accounts (Zalo, Facebook, ...) to make friends. Then the subjects texted or called grocery stores to request orders for food, drinks and other items that cannot be purchased in the area where the subjects ordered.
The subject will introduce and provide the store with the address and phone number of the place selling the product to contact to place an order (in fact, this is the phone number of another subject in the scam group).
When the store contacts the information provided by the subject, other subjects will advise, guide the order and ask for a deposit of an amount usually 50% of the total order value (from a few million to a few tens of millions).
After the store transfers the deposit, the original subject will continue to contact them to request a larger order with the reason of urgent need. When the store contacts them to order more and transfers the deposit, they will appropriate it.
Ms. L.T.G (residing in Phu Quoc City) said that her family sells seafood and has encountered a scam where they ordered and then asked her to order other types of goods. She trusted the documents sent to her via Zalo with a red stamp. After depositing to buy more goods, she could not contact them. When she went to the address on the paper, it was not the same.
Mr. N.T.T (living in Phu Quoc City, selling all kinds of groceries) also said that they not only asked to buy the type of goods he sold but also asked him to buy other types in large quantities. They had a group, divided into people to call. One person called to order, gave the contact address and asked to buy more. Another person from the introduced place called back and asked to transfer the deposit but Mr. T refused. Mr. T insisted that if he wanted to buy, he had to deposit in advance for him, so he could no longer contact him.
Many people who sell other goods also fall into the same situation, delivering the goods but when they get to the given address, they realize they have been scammed. They want to track down the scammer but cannot because they have deleted and blocked contact.
To avoid being scammed and having your property stolen, Phu Quoc City Police recommend that people raise their vigilance and verify customer information before conducting business activities and transactions on the Internet.
Do not transfer money to anyone you meet on social networks without knowing who they are and where they are. When encountering cases of suspected fraud as above, people are requested to immediately notify the nearest police station for investigation and handling.
