Set up a Zalo account, register a bank account with the same name of the person being used to cheat transfers with a large amount of money

On August 28, Mr. Vu Thanh Dat in Ha Dong, Hanoi was in a panic because his relatives and friends called and texted him to report that the money had been transferred to him. After receiving the information, he confirmed that he had never borrowed money from anyone and immediately thought of his name and phone number being used by crooks to fraudulently appropriate other people’s property.

Specifically, according to information that friends and relatives provided to Mr. Dat, the other scammer had set up a Zalo account with the same name as his name, and opened a number of bank accounts that also coincided with his name. After making friends and texting with people in the contact list, the subject asked for a loan with the reason that he needed urgent work, needed money to test for Covid or for urgent medical treatment… and then sent the account number with the correct account holder’s name Vu Thanh. Dat opened at BIDV Bank.

Because many people are subjective, thinking that Dat asked to borrow real money (because the photo on Zalo is his profile picture, the account name is correct) so he transferred the account. Some people transferred 3-4 orders, each order 6 – 10 million VND, some people transferred 1-2 orders 10 – 15 million VND each, someone transferred 4 orders totaling 40 million VND.

Currently, those who have transferred money to the account number forged by Mr. Dat’s name amount to more than 100 million VND. According to Mr. Dat, the amount could be much larger because at present he has not been able to contact everyone in the phonebook to ask if he has been scammed.

Some information about messages and screenshots of successful transfers sent by relatives and friends to Mr. Vu Thanh Dat (photo: Character provided)

After discovering the case, Mr. Dat went to the police station to report it to expect a timely intervention to prevent fraudsters and to prevent others from losing money unjustly. However, because his incident happened on the afternoon of Saturday, the police asked him to come to work on Monday morning, August 30.

Mr. Dat also contacted BIDV to check, the bank confirmed that his identity card number did not open an account at BIDV. Mr. Dat also suggested that the bank freeze the account of the impostor, but the bank said that it could not be done and had to wait for comments from the police.

After stringing together the information provided by relatives and friends , Mr. Dat synthesized the tricks of the scammer that were:

First, the scammer somehow got a data package that was a list of phone numbers in his contacts (as an IT guy, Dat believes the data about phone numbers in users’ contacts may have been stolen). exposed in large quantities, and can be publicly traded on the Internet). Next, the scammer takes his Zalo/Facebook profile picture and cover photo to create a Zalo account with the same name/display information as the person being taken advantage of.

At the same time, the scammer had a meticulous plan in advance to create a bank account with the same name as him, to increase trust. In this section, Mr. Dat contacted the bank again, confirming that his ID card is not being used at BIDV, then the scammer was very sophisticated to find a person with the same name to make a bank card. row.

Next, the scammer will make a series of friends to the phone number in the list above, then proceed to send a bait message (because they do not know the relationship between the two, only phone number information, address book name). Like his friend receives a message: “Hello” or “Hello friend”, and then waits for a response from the target to redefine how to speak, then proceeds to pretend to talk and ask for a loan.

After gaining trust and borrowing for the first time, usually VND 5-8 million, the scammer has determined that this prey already has trust, so he will find different reasons to borrow again with an increased amount. gradually (I have a job at home, my uncle has not delivered it to me in time, I am in a hurry,…). So the people who were tricked into transferring money to Vu Thanh Dat’s account all transferred 3-4 times in a row to the scammer, when they saw the number was too large and suspicious, they called him directly. But at this point it was too late, the subject immediately blocked and renamed the zalo account.

The scammer creates a bank account with the same account holder name as the person being faked (photo provided by the character)

From here, Mr. Dat also warns everyone that: Currently, technology is developing, all data is publicly available, and this scam is very sophisticated. But there is a very easy way to tell:

First, the subject will actively make friends. This part can be confirmed by everyone, that you already made friends, why are you friends again, why?

Second, the subject does not know the relationship, but will send a message asking “Alo”, “Alo c” to wait for the prey to respond. From there confirm the relationship and conduct the scam.

Third, with borrowing money, people need to confirm the exact recipient, by calling again is the most certain.

“This case is relatively serious, and unexpected, for me and the people around. I need the support of experienced people to bring this case to law, I don’t want scammers. This continues to ravage and harm others,” Mr. Dat sent.