Easy to fall into a trap with just one click
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Public Security, the authorities have discovered nearly 1,500 online fraud cases, causing a loss of more than VND 1,660 billion. At the same time, thousands of online gambling advertising channels and groups, cryptocurrency transactions or drug trafficking were also dismantled. This shows the complexity and speed of the spread of violations in cyberspace.
Colonel Le Khac Son - Deputy Director of the Criminal Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) - said that traditional criminal crimes have decreased significantly, but cybercrime has emerged worryingly. Fraud alone accounts for more than 50% of total criminal crimes, of which 59% are cyber fraud, causing great damage to people. The subjects are often third-country people, taking advantage of both the trust and the psychology of the victims to want to make quick money.
Recently, Lao Dong Newspaper has recorded many cases of hacking Zalo accounts, scammers impersonating relatives to ask for money transfers, or sending links to request verification, receive rewards, receive documents... just to appropriate property. Some victims lost several hundred thousand dong, but others lost hundreds of millions after just a few steps.
Lawyer Nguyen Doan (Hanoi Bar Association) commented that in reality, there are more and more fraudulent and appropriated acts taking place with sophisticated tricks, using information technology and cyberspace to commit crimes, the amount of money appropriated is very large not only from one but from many victims, in many different places. This causes many difficulties in detection, prevention, arrest, handling, affecting security, order, social stability, production and business activities of enterprises, and people's lives.
"In my opinion, strictly handling as well as strengthening measures against these scammers is necessary, especially preventive and preventive measures, the cooperation of the entire political system, agencies and people in the spirit of Directive No. 21/CT-TTg issued on May 25, 2020 by the Prime Minister on strengthening the prevention and handling of fraudulent activities to appropriate property" - Lawyer Nguyen Doan said.
How to handle it to protect yourself from scams
Faced with the emergence of illegal fraud, the Zalo platform has repeatedly issued warnings to users. The platform said that many people receive messages from friends or strangers on Zalo, suggesting accessing a link to conduct surveys, receive documents, conduct bank transactions, participate in investing or receive rewards. In many cases, this is a scam by being led.
Zalo recommends that users should absolutely not access suspicious links with unusual signs such as similar to a bank link, requesting personal information, account, or requesting money transfers, opening transactions. Some subjects also requested to open a link outside Zalo to avoid being warned and users were advised not to do so unless they fully trust the source. The accounts of friends and acquaintances may have also been stolen to send fraudulent leads.
When in doubt, users should immediately stop providing information and select See more in the upper right corner and then select Bad news, helping Zalo check and handle.
In case of accidental access to the link and providing information, users must immediately stop accessing and providing data; change Zalo password, bank password; absolutely do not share OTP code from Zalo or bank; and contact the bank for support to minimize damage. In addition, it is necessary to check for devices that log in illegally to Zalo accounts, bank accounts or other social media accounts.
