Common scams in cyberspace

Nowadays, connecting to each other through cyberspace has become an essential need for everyone.

With the explosion of information technology, telecommunications networks, the internet, etc., it has helped us overcome the limits of both space and time.

Despite bringing many benefits such as connecting relationships, updating information, doing business, and entertainment, cyberspace also has many potential risks.

More and more subjects are using cyberspace to defraud with more sophisticated cunning.

In today’s article, PL & Partners Law Firm will take a look at some common scams in cyberspace and how to avoid them for you and your friends to be more vigilant.

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1. SOCIAL MEDIA SCAMS.

This is an online scam that has become all too familiar in recent years.

Scammers often hijack someone’s social media account or create fake accounts. Then texting to trick relatives and friends of this person asking to transfer money for the reason of borrowing, calling for charity, asking for payment, etc.

To avoid being scammed, when you receive a message asking to borrow money, you should absolutely not trust it immediately, especially if the transfer information is not the same as your relatives and friends.

Please call to confirm their identity. If this person doesn’t answer the phone or makes excuses to avoid it, it’s likely that this account has been hacked. At this point, you need to be resolute in your refusal to transfer money and immediately notify your mutual friends to remind them to be vigilant.

2. PHISHING SCAMS

With this trick, scammers will send messages with content similar to bank messages and contain fake links asking for private information such as card information, usernames, passwords, OTP code, etc.

Or they will play the role of a customer to contact the shops and ask them to fill their information in the link to receive the deposit.

Upon obtaining this information, fraudsters will break into and withdraw money from the victim’s bank account.

As a precaution, do not access the links attached to the content of strange messages, do not perform operations on the phone according to the syntax instructed by strangers, do not provide bank account information and OTP code for anyone.

3. INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKES AND ROMANCE SCAMS.

Scammers will send messages or call to notify you that you have been lucky to win money, motorbikes, phones or other valuable assets. However, to receive gifts, you need to top up money via phone cards or transfer money to them to do the procedure to receive the reward.

Another similar trick is that the scammer will introduce himself as a foreigner, make friends and maintain contact to create a relationship with you. After creating trust, fraudsters will notify you that they want to send you money and gifts from abroad to Vietnam. However, you need to pay the freight rate, taxes, charges, etc. to receive the gifts.

In this case, you should not believe in such tricks and also absolutely do not transfer money or buy phone cards, game cards for them.

4. GOVERNMENT IMPOSTER SCAMS

By this form, scammers will pretend to be law enforcement agencies such as police, procuracy, court, etc. to put pressure on you, confuse you, and then request a money transfer.

First, they will use many different scenarios such as: pretending to be a postal worker to announce the receipt of a parcel, pretending to be an electrician, a network operator to notify a fee debt, pretending to be a traffic police and threatening to impose a fine because you have caused an accident but then fled., etc. thereby get your personal information.

After having this information, they will forge arrest warrants, threaten to prosecute you, or announce that you are involved in an investigation such as drug trafficking, money laundering, gambling, etc. While you are bewildered, they will ask you to transfer money to the account they provided for investigation purposes and then complete the fraud.

When encountering these cases, you need to be vigilant and do not provide any personal information to any individual or organization when it is unclear who they are and what their purposes are. If it is necessary to work with citizens, the authorities will have to give them invitations and work directly at the office, not by phone or online.

5. BUSINESS AND INVESTMENT SCAMS.

This is an online scam that has grown in popularity in recent times. Scammers will set up financial investment websites, fake applications, and virtual exchanges. Then they will give attractive calls to invite you to join in such as guaranteed profitability, commitment to huge profits, withdrawing capital at any time, high discount rate if you can invite others to join, etc.

In fact, these websites and exchanges are completely controlled by scammers. They can increase, decrease in value or deactivate at any time. At first, they will let you make a profit to create more psychological traps and invite others to join. After a while, they will stop working, you can no longer log in or withdraw money from your account.

This form of fraud aims at people’s greed and ignorance. Therefore, to avoid it, you need to be alert and wary of enticing invitations, especially investment invitations with unusually high returns without having to spend time and effort.

In case you intend to invest in a certain project, you need to check the information carefully in many aspects to make an informed decision and should only invest in areas where you already have certain knowledge.

In conclusion, PL & Partners Law Firm has shared with you and your friends about common scams in cyberspace. Hope the above information will help you catch the tricks of the scammers, thereby equipping yourself with the knowledge and skills to avoid them.