Scammers have recently used fake names, images, documents and dispatches of 1980Books Company to advertise recruitment, and defraud and appropriate people's property. 

They set up a website/landing page system and Facebook displaying information about 1980Books but with another address and phone number; and used fake images and seals and signatures to recruit readers.

"Reading books everyday to get pay" is considered an online fraud, which is a disguise of "performing tasks to get awards". All fake accounts run ads, and they can approach a high number of social network users.

AIS said people need to be cautious when seeing abnormal behaviors on social networks and not remit money or believe the job offers with high pay. 

Summer training courses

The 2023-2024 academic year is nearly ending and it is time for parents to enroll their children in summer courses.

As demand is increasing, more and more courses have been introduced, while many scammers have exploited this to appropriate money from parents seeking summer courses for children.

To gain parents’ confidence, scammers provide digital images and ID cards of ‘head of enrollment division’, added victims to a Telegram group and request victims to buy feng shui items to increase the interactions for training courses’ sponsors.

With such a trick, a person founded ‘tu sinh mua he’ (summer training courses) and tricked a parent in Hanoi out of VND2.8 billion.

AIS has advised people to carefully learn about the training courses on social networks, and not join the groups which don’t have transparent information. 

Counterfeiting cryptocurrencies 

According to AIS, Leather app has recently issued a warning about an app counterfeiting its cryptocurrency wallet app on App Store. Leather does not provide any similar service on the iOS platform. 

Some users have reported having their cryptocurrencies stolen after using fake wallets. Bleeping Computer advises users to be wary of the fake Leather cryptocurrency wallet app. This fraudulent app is still seen on the App Store.

If users accidentally log in and provide information on fake apps, they need to quickly transfer cryptocurrencies to another safe e-wallet. People should not click the links sent to them via messages and be cautious when asked to install software.

‘Easy job, high pay’ offer 

A woman, who was seeking a job in mid-March 2024, found a post on Facebook which said there was ‘easy job with high pay’ for her to take. H was requested to open an account to make investment on cryptocurrencies which promised fat profits. As guided by the scammers, H transferred VND750 million to them and could not claim the amount of money back.

It is risky making transactions on cryptocurrency trading floors, especially when the trading floors don’t have legal representatives in Vietnam, and cryptocurrencies are not legally recognized in Vietnam.

Foreigners need ‘someone to help keep money’

Gia Lai Police on March 19, 2024 issued a notice to find victims in the case of foreigners tricking Vietnamese out of money.

The scammers in this case posted images and articles pretending to be foreign doctors, businesspeople and engineers and sending a request to make friends with the victims. They said they were working in a war-torn country and they wanted to find someone who can keep their money to protect their assets.

After that, the victims were called by persons who introduced themselves as airport officers and told the victims to pay fees and taxes before receiving packages of foreign currencies from senders.

With the trick, the scammers appropriated VND100 billion from many victims.

Fake software for public services

Victims receive calls and messages from ‘state officers’ who request to implement a series of actions. A person in Gia Lam district lost appropriated VND800 million this way.

New online swindling campaign via email

Victims receive phishing emails with the subject "salary" and are told to open the word files attached. After that, victims are told to enter passwords provided in the emails and double click the ‘print’ symbol to see the salary chart. With this method, scammers can appropriate victims’ properties.

Van Anh