Warning: Scams on Telegram, many people 'fall into traps' and lose hundreds of millions of dong

Telegram is an international OTT application with very high security that is used by many users in Vietnam. However, this application is being used by many scammers to trap Vietnamese users.

Bad guys often put victims into secret groups on Telegram such as job interviews, tasks, invitations to invest, work remotely . to scam money up to hundreds of millions of dong.

Losing hundreds of millions and still being cheated

Just wrote a job application and sent it online the day before, the next day Mr. Q in Ho Chi Minh City received a phone call inviting an interview from a company. But first, Mr. Q had to conduct a "work evaluation training session" remotely via the Telegram app first.

Mr. Q created a Telegram account and joined the company's recruitment group at the scheduled time. There are many candidates in the group like Mr. Q. The candidates in the group are divided into small groups, each group has 4 people to assess their capacity. The first requirement is that the candidate must download some applications (apps) and follow the task.

The first task candidates receive is to deposit money to place orders to increase revenue for the company on a financial app. Mr. Q transferred 1 million VND and then received exactly 1 million VND and won.

After that, the company asked to place an order with an increasing amount, 7 million, then 14 million, 33 million and up to 145 million. Initially, Mr. Q wanted to show his ability, so he made a money transfer to place the first two orders. On the third time he did not have enough money, but the company said it would support the shortage.

When Mr. Q announced that there was no money left in his account to make the 4th order, the company told him to borrow from friends and relatives. Mr. Q did not agree and asked to return the money, the company did not agree and asked Mr. Q to deposit enough money to place all 5 orders to refund the principal and commission. At this point, Mr. Q knew that he had been cheated.

Another person is Ms. H, also in Ho Chi Minh City. HCM has participated in online part-time jobs with the simple job of "like videos and close virtual orders" in the Telegram application with the initial desire to simply like the video to earn a daily cup of yogurt. But when she joined, she was tempted to transfer money to close the application. On the 5th working day, she was confused by the members of the group gathering the council and lost nearly 300 million VND.

Scenario available

Currently, bad guys are using Telegram to entice users to join and set traps. They post articles announcing recruitment, investment, duty . on Facebook, zalo . to attract users.

Bad guys will lure people who want to join or are simply curious into groups on the Telegram application and set up traps. Many users have been scammed up to hundreds of millions of dong.

The tricks to call for investment, to be a collaborator, to do tasks. are not new, but when in a closed group, many people are more susceptible to "psychological manipulation" than in public groups or private chats. If the victim is confused or has any signs of doubt, there will be "decoys" acting as other users to "set an example" and achieve successful results to seduce them.

Experts warn users to be extra vigilant so as not to fall victim to scams.

In early May 2023, security firm Kaspersky published research showing that the activity of online scammers on Telegram has increased significantly. The bad guys used messaging app features to provide various services to seduce and deceive users.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 27 June 2023