The firm has found a considerable increase in the number of swindled domain names, which shows the spread of phishing types in Vietnam in the last few years.

Viettel Threat Intelligence discovered 5,900 swindled domain names in 2023, which was 1.3 times higher than 2022 and 6.2 times higher than 2020. 

Phishing scenarios were more thorough and the tricks more sophisticated.

According to Viettel Cyber Security, the finance and banking sector continues to be the top target of phishing attacks, accounting for 54 percent of total attacks. Retail and e-commerce was second with 16 percent of attacks. 

Notably, the year 2023 witnessed the strong rise of phishing attacks in which scammers impersonated state officials, asking victims to transfer money into private bank accounts to solve victims’ problems. These attacks accounted for 9 percent of total attacks.

BKAV Corporation has released a report showing that the number of users receiving swindled messages and calls continued to increase, from 69.6 in 2022 percent to 73 percent.

The surveys by NCS have also found acsharp increase in online scams. ‘Trunk simcards’, trunk bank accounts and personal information leakage, plus the popularity of Deepfake technology, have led to a sharp increase in online scams.

Scammers, based on the data collected, design scenarios specifically to each subject. They also use Deepfake to forge pictures and voices, which allows them to cheat victims easily.

Experts have warned that the personal data trade is rampant in Vietnam and the number of online phishing cases is on the rise. Therefore, people need to be cautious and avoid becoming the victims of attacks.

A handbook for identifying and preventing online scams issued by the Information Security Authority under the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) lists the "impersonation of police agencies, procuratorates, and courts to trick people out of money" as one of the 24 most common types of online phishing in Vietnam’s cyberspace.

In many cases, scammers call victims and warn victims that the police or appropriate agencies are investigating a case related to the victims’ family members. They say the family members could be the involved parties in the case and tell the victims to transfer money into their accounts, or they may be arrested. 

In other cases, scammers tell victims to provide information about credit card numbers, ID card numbers, and other sensitive information, and they then use the information to appropriate victims’ assets.

Le My