In late May, several individuals, introducing themselves as officers of Giao Hang Tiet Kiem, a delivery firm, called their victims and informed them that in order to receive parcels, they needed to make payments through bank accounts the scammers had sent via messages.

After the victims said they successfully transferred the money, the scammers told them that they had made wrong operations and VND3.5 million would be deducted each month from their accounts, or VND42 million a year. 

The scammers also said they would send a link to the victims, telling them to click on the URL to cancel packages. If victims clicked the links, they would lose all their money in their accounts.

In the 26th bulletin about online scams, the Ministry of Information and Communications’ (MIC) Authority of Information Security (AIS) advised people to be wary of scammers who impersonate Giao Hang Tiet Kiem’s officers, post wrong information about recruitment on fake fanpages, and ask candidates to pay fees to be recruited or admitted to recruitment support groups.

This type of scam has also occurred with many businesses and organizations in Vietnam and around the world. In mid-June, someone impersonated the Indian Post to deceive victims and steal their personal information.

In Vietnam, the Vietnam Post in mid-June gave a warning about a type of scam in which scammers impersonated Vietnam Post officers and called customers to thank them, asking them to install an app with instructions they had sent in the URL.

At a dialogue titled ‘Getting ready for renovation in the digital era’ between MIC Minister Nguyen Manh Hung and mid-ranking managers of the ministry on June 28, the Vietnam Post deputy chief of secretariat, Nghiem Tuan Anh, said scammers have impersonated the Vietnam Post to deceive victims, which has affected its reputation and brand value.

Hung said that Vietnam Post and enterprises are facing high online risks because of the increase in scams using AI (artificial intelligence) to impersonate enterprises in order to swindle individuals and organizations.

For example, scammers have impersonated Vietnam Post’s workers and told victims to remit money into certain bank accounts to get their parcels delivered.

The national database that was created and operated with the aim to prevent scams shows 125,000 counterfeit addresses and websites related to online scams. 

Meanwhile, the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) belonging to AIS updates the list of forged websites weekly to provide useful information about scams to the public, so that they can avoid fraud.

Enterprises and organizations should disseminate information about the scams on their official channels as warnings to their clients, experts said.

Experts noted that agencies, finance and banking institutions, e-commerce platforms, large corporations, and service companies are the major victims of scammers.

AIS pointed out that impersonating websites not only causes harm to people, but also damages the reputation of the agencies and organizations.

In addition to regularly updating the list of impersonated websites related to fraud, AIS has also launched the ‘Tin nhiem mang’ (network trust) ecosystem, which assigns a ‘network trust’, or ‘green label’ to over 5,000 official websites of agencies, organizations and businesses. 

This gives guidance to individuals and organizations when accessing websites, and familiarizes people with the habit of being cautious when accessing websites without a ‘green label’. 

Agencies have repeatedly advised agencies and businesses to scan and discover websites that impersonate their institutions and give early warnings to their clients. Giving true information to clients and ensuring information security for users protects their brand and reputation.

Three solutions to help those who are targets of impersonation fraud include: supervising their online information; discovering scams early and reporting to appropriate agencies, and informing the public about their official channels, fanpages and websites they use to communicate with customers.

AIS discovered 100 forged website fraud cases in March 2024 and 124,579 forged web addresses in the first quarter of the year. 

Trong Dat