The Authority of Information Security under the Ministry of Information and Communications has warned about common forms of online fraud in Viet Nam to help Internet users avoid being scammed.

As Viet Nam was promoting and accelerating digital transformation, many took advantage of the boom in information technology and the convenience it brought.

Viet Nam’s information security warning portal at canhbao.khonggianmang.vn recorded more than 12,900 cases of online fraud in 2022, which could be divided into major types – fraud to steal personal information and financial fraud.

To carry out online scams, fraudsters used different methods to create trust but they could be divided into three main groups. The most popular was brand counterfeiting which accounted for 72 per cent, followed by account hijacking with 11.4 per cent and the remaining 16 per cent including online jobs, love scams and online lending.

The final goal of the fraudsters was to appropriate property by preying on the gullible, those who lack access to information, have no jobs or low income and the hidden greed of each person, the department said.

The department pointed out 16 common forms of online scams.

Among brand counterfeiting frauds, the most common were forging brands of organisations such as banks, State agencies, financial and securities companies to send fraudulent SMS messages to victims and forging official websites or blogs to trick victims and collect their personal information.

Other forms include hijacking social network accounts to send fraudulent messages to friends and relatives in order to hijack accounts, steal information and appropriate and send black credit ads and applications which would turn victims into debtors, without them knowing about it.

Fraudsters also used phone numbers and pretended to be authorities, police, and telecommunications providers to make phone calls to victims to report their violations and require money transfers as fines.

Tran Dinh Cuong, Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam's HCM City branch, said that the development of digital banking has resulted in more fraudulent activity. With the rapid changes in technology, security holes arose, leading to an increase in online scams, with many being more sophisticated and unpredictable.

Cuong said that banks should pay attention to ensuring security, data safety and IT systems equivalent to their operation scale and the development of the digital economy.

To An Xo, Chief of the Office of the Ministry of Public Security, was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourers) newspaper as saying that ministries and agencies were reviewing and handling loopholes in the fields where frauds often happen such as investment, capital raising, real estate business, digital economy, digital finance, peer-to-peer lending, e-payment, payment intermediaries, social networks and mobile phone subscriptions to strengthen fraud prevention in cyberspace. — VNS