Fraudsters buy bank accounts and then look for accounts with the same name on social networks to commit fraud. That is the story that my colleague Ms. D once encountered. A stranger hacked her Facebook account, then texted her friends to borrow money. What is worth mentioning is that the name of the bank account number that the bad guy provided to transfer money was the same as Ms. D's full name and the same as the bank that Ms. D was using, only the account number was different. This made some of her friends subjective, not suspicious... causing many people to easily fall into the trap.
People should not provide personal information and bank accounts to strangers and untrusted websites and electronic applications. (Illustration photo)
From this incident we see more clearly the tricks of collecting information, buying, selling, exchanging, and renting bank accounts for the purpose of fraud.
In December 2023, the People's Court of Thuong Xuan District held a first-instance trial of a criminal case against three defendants Nguyen Quang Trang, Pham Le Kien Cuong, and Bui Thanh Tung, all residing in Hanoi, for the crime of "Illegal collection, exchange, purchase, sale, and public disclosure of information about bank accounts". The case was discovered when Ms. Bui Thi Th, residing in Thuong Xuan town, was scammed of money on the internet and transferred money many times to different bank accounts. Ms. Th reported to the police. During the process of verifying the denunciation of a crime with signs of the crime of Fraudulent appropriation of property, the Investigation Police Department of Thuong Xuan District Police determined: Around the beginning of 2022, when accessing social networks, Nguyen Quang Trang saw the group "Job Search Association" and saw an account named "Nguyen Hai" posting in the group with the content of wanting to hire someone to open a bank account. Seeing that, Trang texted “Nguyen Hai” to ask about the content, and was introduced by “Nguyen Hai” as a Hai Phong native, currently working in Cambodia. “Nguyen Hai” suggested that Trang have relatives or friends open a bank account in Vietnam for “Nguyen Hai” to rent, and he would be paid 1 million VND/account. Based on “Nguyen Hai’s” introduction, agreeing on the rental price, how to open it, and which banks to open it at, Trang started looking for someone to open a bank account for subleasing.
Between February 2022 and April 2022, Nguyen Quang Trang collected 110 bank accounts from Pham Le Kien Cuong and Bui Thanh Tung and several others to sell to "Nguyen Hai" and was paid 64.5 million VND/110 accounts by "Nguyen Hai"... All 3 defendants in the case were prosecuted and tried for the crime of "Illegal collection, exchange, purchase, sale, and publicization of information about bank accounts".
Due to the increasing demand for online credit payment methods by organizations and individuals, more and more subjects are taking advantage of people's subjectivity to lure them into illegally exchanging and buying and selling bank accounts. Lawyer Nguyen Huu Giang, Deputy Head of Thanh Hoa Provincial Bar Association, Director of Nguyen Giang Vina Law Firm, assessed: Most subjects buy other people's bank accounts to defraud or transfer money through accounts for profit or commit illegal acts. For these acts, depending on the nature and severity of the act, the person who rents, lends, or buys and sells payment accounts and bank cards may be subject to administrative penalties or criminal prosecution.
According to Clause 5, Clause 6, Clause 10, Article 26 of Decree 88/2019/ND-CP dated November 14, 2019, stipulating administrative sanctions in the field of currency and banking, acts related to bank account transactions such as leasing, borrowing, buying, selling... that are not yet subject to criminal prosecution will be fined up to 100 million VND, and at the same time forced to pay back to the state budget the amount of illegal profits obtained from these acts. Those who lease, lend, buy and sell payment accounts and bank cards may be criminally prosecuted according to the provisions of Article 291 of the 2015 Penal Code with the highest fine from 200 - 500 million VND or imprisonment from 2 to 7 years.
Bank staff instruct people on how to use online payment methods (illustrative photo).
Lawyer Nguyen Huu Giang also advised people to be vigilant about the following points: Absolutely do not provide any personal information, bank accounts to strangers and untrusted websites and electronic applications; Do not post or share personal information, citizen identification card/ID card images, bank accounts on social networks. Do not provide personal information, bank accounts for non-essential services, without a commitment to ensure the security of personal information on social networking platforms. Do not access unknown websites, or access links in emails, Facebook, Zalo... strange links in other electronic applications when the safety is unknown, even if sent by acquaintances.
When installing any application on the Internet, especially those related to personal information and bank accounts, people should carefully consider the permissions requested by the application as well as read the terms and policies of this application carefully before implementing. If you find anything suspicious, uninstall the application immediately. If you detect any application or website that shows signs of fraud, people can also report it to the National Cyber Security Monitoring Center (NCSC) at https://canhbao.khonggianmang.gov.vn or directly report it to the nearest police agency for support and prevention.
In case a citizen loses his/her citizen identification card, he/she must immediately report to the competent authority to re-issue the document. This is the basis to prove that the owner of the citizen identification card/citizen identification card is not involved in any civil transactions during the time of loss; at the same time, it prevents the case where the citizen identification card/citizen identification card number is exploited to conduct illegal civil transactions.
Competent State agencies and law enforcement agencies need to step up propaganda and warnings about cases and behaviors of subjects who have been administratively or criminally punished so that people can know, learn, and avoid similar incidents from happening.
Article and photos: Viet Huong
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