Thu Hien from Dong Da district in Hanoi told VietNamNet that she has been warned by the O Cho Dua ward police of a new scam in which scammers swindle people out of money with a card with a QR Code.

Scammers come to parking lots and to houses on small alleys and hang a plastic card with denominations of VND50,000, VND100,000 and VND200,000 on people’s motorbikes, or at their entrance doors. If people want to discover the QR Codes shown on the cards, they will scan the codes and contract malware.

The police stressed that scams are getting more and more sophisticated with the appearance of new technologies, so people need to be wary of risks. 

According to the National Cybersecurity Centre (NCSC) under the Ministry of Information and Communication’s (MIC) Authority of Information Security (AIS), the trick of cards with QR Codes hung on motorbike mirrors and at people’s entrance doors has also been found in HCM City and Soc Trang.  

The cards used by scammers are plastic and yellow, with denominations on one side (for example, VND50,000) and instructions to use and QR Codes on the other side. 

The instructions say that people can receive the denomination or talk to customer care by scanning QR Codes; and provide information about bank accounts and passwords to get the money.

According to AIS, scammers distribute the cards to seduce victims to access scammed websites or download apps containing malware in an attempt to appropriate assets.

In addition, scammers give instructions to victims and tell them to do as directed in order to appropriate assets.

AIS has advised people to be wary of the risks and outsmart online scammers. They should be cautious when scanning QR Codes and only transfer money after carefully checking information.

Once they scan QR Codes and see strange URLs, people need to check if the links start with ‘https’ before deciding whether to take the next steps.

People have also been recommended to check information about accounts given to them carefully, check the content of the website links. And do not provide information about bank accounts and social network accounts. Also, it is necessary to use 2-layer authentication and other protection methods for online accounts.

Van Anh