M, a woman in Hanoi, received a call from a person claiming to be a delivery driver who said she had a “0-dong order.” Trusting the caller, she agreed to receive the package and asked the driver to deliver it to her home. Shortly afterward, the caller said she needed to pay a VND12,000 delivery fee.

Without suspicion, M. asked for the bank account number to transfer the money and reminded the driver to bring the package. The caller politely replied “yes” and sent the account details. She quickly transferred the requested amount.

About 10 minutes later, the driver called back, saying he had mistakenly provided the wrong account number and asked her to cancel the transaction. When she asked how to deal with the problem, the scammer immediately sent a link and asked her to access it to avoid “bad debt” and other complications.

Because she was not familiar with technology, M. said she did not know how to cancel the transaction. The scammer patiently instructed her to access the link and follow the steps so he could help perform the operation. Trusting him, she followed the instructions. A few minutes later, she noticed her phone becoming unusually hot and she could not exit the application or turn off the device.

When she tried to close the running apps, the caller repeatedly said: “What are you doing? Let me handle it for you.” At that moment, M. realized her phone had been remotely controlled. Although she called for help, her family did not understand what was happening.

In a panic, she quickly removed the SIM card from the phone. As soon as the SIM was removed, the device lost its internet connection. She immediately turned off the phone and rushed to a nearby bank to request that her account be locked.

After checking with the bank, M. breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that nearly VND3 billion in her account remained untouched.

Unlike M., another woman recently became a victim of a similar scam. According to Hanoi Police, N.T.V. in Hanoi received a call from an unknown number claiming to be a delivery driver informing her of a package that required payment.

Because the amount was only VND3,000, she was not cautious. Later, another person called, saying that a “new employee” had made a mistake and asked her to contact customer support to receive the delivery.

The scammers instructed her to share her phone screen, turn on both front and rear cameras, and then asked her to close her bank account and transfer money to accounts provided by them. After repeatedly following the instructions, she lost nearly VND1.3 billion from her bank account.

To prevent fraud, Hanoi Police advised that postal and delivery enterprises currently have official websites and applications for people to look up tracking information.

Citizens must not log into links sent by strangers or not transfer money before directly receiving ordered goods. They also must carefully verify information before transferring money.

When detecting suspicious signs or being defrauded, people should quickly go to the nearest police station to report for timely support.

The Hanoi woman shared that her phone is "besieged" by strange calls almost every day.

Initially, she maintained a polite attitude when receiving calls from strange numbers. "I usually answered politely and explained that I had no need, nor did I participate in any form of investment or service. Many times I even said: 'Please don't bother me,'" M. recounted.

However, the more polite she was, the more strange calls she received. She felt as if her phone number had been put into a "fraud ecosystem." "They called with all sorts of offers: inviting financial investment, land plots, stocks, etc. Once I had to joke: 'I am sanding wood to earn daily wages, where would I get money to invest?'" she said.

Despite this, the refusals did not stop the subjects. The frequency of calls frustrated her; and just seeing a strange number made her uncomfortable. This led to a bittersweet situation.

So, she decided not to answer all the calls from unknown numbers, though she knows she might miss some important calls.

“With dozens of unknown calls every day, sometimes just seeing an unfamiliar number is enough to make me lose patience and not even listen long enough to recognize a familiar voice,” she said.

Nguyen Le