An expert from Chongluadao, a not-for-profit organization, said it recently discovered many counterfeit websites that aim to swindle people out of information about their cards.

Distributing spam messages is the way scammers approach users. About 60 counterfeit websites have been dismantled.

Thuy Ha from Hoang Mai district in Hanoi said she was a victim of a series of calls and advertising messages.

“The callers say that my phone number has registered to participate in a certain game and ask me to pay fees for account registration. I think the callers dialed the wrong number, so I refuse to talk to them in a polite way and put the phone down. However, I am still bothered by calls from many different phone numbers,” she said.

Besides these calls, Ha receives messages from unfamiliar subscribers with invitations to use services.

“A message said I had an account at ***88 game portal. When I tried to search on Google, I found that this was a website for gambling and betting,” she said. “I was afraid that someone in my family got involved in the website, but I asked all my family members about the website, but they all said they didn’t know about it."

Disturbed by the calls and messages, the woman reported to hotline 156 and forwarded the content of the spam messages. The operator then showed her how to block unfamiliar subscribers and the problem was solved.

Hotline 156 is the phone number of the channel that receives reports about spam calls and messages and calls with signs of scamming, run by MIC and telecom carriers since November 1, 2022.

People receiving spam calls and messages can contact 156 via messages or calls.

As of November 20, 2022, hotlines 156 and switchboard 5656 had received 97,000 reports, or 4,855 reports a day. Of this, reports about calls and messages with signals of scam accounted for 20.7 percent of reports.

Previously, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) put into operation switchboard 5656 to take reports in the form of messages about spam calls and messages. 

Later, hotline 156 was put into use in order to have a channel that receives reports in both forms of messages and calls.

According to the Authority of Telecommunications, the average number of reports to appropriate agencies via hotline 156 increased by six times after a short time compared with the first 10 months of 2022, when the 5656-switchboard operated.

Hotline 156 and switchboard 5656 operate at the same time.

Van Anh