From April 22 to April 28, the content of 'Weekly News' of the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) continues to provide information related to prominent online scams to help people raise awareness and skills to protect themselves in cyberspace:

'Popular' scams on tourism and restaurant reservations during the holidays

According to the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications), the 30/4 and 1/5 holidays this year last for 5 days, so people have many plans and intentions to travel and relax. Taking advantage of this time, criminals have carried out a series of different travel scams to steal users' assets.

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According to the Department of Information Security, taking advantage of the holidays, criminals have carried out a series of different travel scams to appropriate users' assets. Illustration photo: NCSC

For example, the subject forged photos of receipts, payment invoices and the seal of the travel company; after the customer transferred money to pay for the travel service, the subject blocked communication and erased traces. Some subjects took advantage of people's habit of booking tickets online to defraud and appropriate property, causing many people to buy fake train and bus tickets, with information edited and no value to use.

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Cheap travel combo scams are a form of fraud often used by criminals during holidays.

Along with advising people to be vigilant against tourism scams, experts from the Information Security Department also warned about scams in booking parties and restaurants during the holidays to steal money from restaurants and food service businesses.

Specifically, recently, a number of restaurants and cooking services in Da Nang city were scammed by scammers, who appropriated hundreds of millions of dong by using the trick of booking parties and buying alcohol and food for customers.

To prevent and stop the above-mentioned types of fraud, the Information Security Department recommends that people, restaurants, food service businesses, and accommodation establishments further raise their vigilance and carefully check information when receiving requests to receive online party reservations via telecommunications networks and social networks to avoid being scammed; at the same time, it is necessary to share and warn widely about this fraud scheme.

Restaurant owners and food service establishments should also not accept money transfers or payments on behalf of unknown individuals. They should carefully check the receipts and only do so when they are sure that their accounts have received the money from the subject. In case of detecting signs of fraud, people should quickly report to the nearest police station for legal handling.

Warning of increased fraud using Deepfake technology

The Department of Information Security said that Deepfake - a technology that uses artificial intelligence to create fake videos that look real - is a major threat to Vietnamese cyberspace users. Recently, cybercriminals have frequently used Deepfake video calls to impersonate an individual and borrow large sums of money from their relatives and friends.

The subjects faked and took over social media users' accounts, contacted relatives on their friends' lists, saying they were stranded while traveling abroad and needed money immediately; using Deepfake technology, they made video calls to make the victims think they were talking to their relatives and that the need to borrow money was real.

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Cybercriminals have recently been using Deepfake video calls to impersonate an individual to borrow large sums of money from their relatives and friends. Illustration photo: NCSC

The Information Security Department recommends that users can use AI tools such as 'Intel FakeCatcher' and 'Microsoft Video Authenticator' to identify Deepfake to reduce the probability of success of scams. With Deepfake videos, there are some tools that help identify mismatched movements between mouth and voice.

People should also note not to provide personal information such as citizen identification, bank account, OTP code and not to transfer money to strangers via phone, social networks, websites with signs of fraud. When there is a request to borrow/transfer money into an account via social networks, other authentication methods should be used such as traditional phone calls or using other communication channels to confirm.

Social Security Fraud to Seize Property

Taking advantage of people's trust in social insurance and health insurance policies, recently, some subjects have impersonated officials of the Vietnam Social Security to defraud and appropriate people's assets when carrying out procedures related to these policies.

Specifically, Mr. NTT, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, was recently assisted by a person impersonating a social insurance employee in creating and processing various types of insurance documents, with a service fee of VND900,000. Mr. NTT provided personal information, a photo of his citizen ID card and social insurance book to the subject. The subject sent the victim a fake image of the application being received, and requested to transfer the fee. After transferring money to the subject's account twice and texting to ask for the results but receiving no response, Mr. NTT realized he had been scammed.

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Vietnam Social Security currently has only one fanpage at facebook.com/baohiemxahoi.gov.vn that has been given a blue tick by Facebook. People should be careful to avoid visiting fake pages. Illustration photo: NCSC

The Information Security Department recommends that people raise their vigilance; improve their knowledge of laws and policies on social insurance, unemployment insurance, and health insurance, as well as update information on methods and tricks of cybercriminals to avoid falling into online fraud traps.

The agency also informed that in case of any problems when carrying out administrative procedures of the social insurance sector, people can contact the Customer Care and Support Service Center of Vietnam Social Insurance via hotline number '1900.9068' or phone number '0243.7899999' (during office hours) for support.

Seizing tens of billions of dong from the scam of borrowing the name of charity donations

Subject L.D.H residing in Ho Chi Minh City has just been served with a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused and issue an arrest warrant for temporary detention by the Da Nang City Police for the crime of fraud and appropriation of property. Using the social network accounts 'Mot Long Huong Phat - Ni Su Chuc Tu', 'Phật Pháp Nhiễm Mẫu - Ni Su Nhan Do', 'Ni Su Tam Phuc', 'Phật Pháp Nhiễm Mậu - Ni Su Tam Ha'..., the subject regularly posted pictures of pitiful situations and articles calling for charitable donations to many personal bank accounts. With this trick, the subject appropriated charity money from many people with a total amount of up to tens of billions of VND.

Faced with the above situation, the Information Security Department recommends that people should carefully study charity and support activities on social networks. In order for kindness to be properly directed, people with a good heart should choose charity funds and programs organized by the state, organizations, social funds, and charity funds licensed by competent authorities. In case of suspicion of fraud or property appropriation, people should report to the nearest police agency for timely handling.

Creating hundreds of thousands of fake website addresses of agencies and organizations to commit fraud . In March 2024, the technical system of the Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) detected 100 fake brand websites to commit fraud. Accumulated to the end of the first quarter, this agency recorded 124,579 fake website addresses related to online fraud.