Warning about the scam of impersonating police officers, staging the "kidnapping" of students to steal money

Recently, in An Giang province and some neighboring provinces, there have been consecutive cases of fraud in the form of impersonating police officers, controlling students' spirit, then staging a "kidnapping" scenario to ask their families to transfer ransom money. The Criminal Police Department of the provincial police warned that this is a new and sophisticated fraud method that needs to be identified and prevented promptly.

Phu An Commune Police handed over the victim to his family.

On the afternoon of July 14, the Criminal Police Department coordinated with Phu Tan Commune Police and Phu An Commune Police to verify and clarify two cases of fraud and property appropriation by impersonating police officers and calling to threaten students involved in transnational drug or money laundering cases.

Accordingly, the subjects asked the victims to install the "Zoom Workplace" application, grant access to the device, then take control of the phone, social network accounts and contact relatives to demand ransom.

The method of the subjects is to make friends on Zalo with middle and high school students, claiming to be police officers and informing them that they are being investigated in a major case. They instruct them to download an online application and provide a Zoom code to join a video call group.

Once they had taken control of the phone, they instructed the victim to rent a room at a location they specified, asked them to keep it a secret, and cut off contact with their family. Then, they manipulated the victim's psychology, asking them to take pictures of themselves tied up, with a knife held to their neck... to send to their family with a message asking for help, threatening to sell them to Cambodia if they did not transfer money. The account to which the money was sent to the family was the victim's, as the subjects had requested beforehand.

At around 8:30 p.m. on July 14, Cho Vam Commune Police received a report from Ms. Tran Thi Ai Lien (35 years old, residing in Phu Loc Hamlet, Cho Vam Commune) that her younger brother Tran QV (17 years old) was asked to transfer ransom money after the family received a text message saying he was being held. Assuming that the victim was not "kidnapped" but lured to a motel, the Commune Police organized an urgent search. At 11 p.m. the same day, V. was found renting a room at motel number 47, Phu Cuong B Hamlet.

Through investigation, the police determined that the boy had been called by a subject impersonating a police captain, asked to appear in Hanoi , then provided bank information and followed instructions to go to the motel to "work online". V was instructed to text two uncles with the content that he was in debt and needed to transfer money. The subject asked V. to sit in the toilet, put his hands behind his back, take a fake photo of himself being arrested to send to relatives. However, due to being vigilant, the family did not transfer money, but reported to the police, promptly stopping the incident.

Similarly, at 8:15 p.m. on July 15, My Thoi Ward Police received a report from Chau Ngoc Tinh (51 years old, residing in Trung Thanh Hamlet, My Thoi Ward) that his daughter Chau AT (17 years old) was suspected of being "kidnapped" after sending a distress message to her mother via Zalo. The working group coordinated with PC02 and PA05 to quickly verify, and at 0:30 a.m. on July 16, discovered that T. was renting a room at a hotel in Dong Thap province.

Through investigation, T. confessed that he had received a call from a person impersonating a police officer, asking for his bank account information and discovered that there was 10 million VND in his account. The person asked T. to transfer this amount and continued to borrow 20 million VND via a banking application. After that, T. was asked to go to the hotel, take a photo as if he was being "kidnapped" to send to his mother with a request for help; and asked his family to transfer 450 million VND as ransom. Thanks to not following the person's request and reporting to the police, the incident was handled promptly, T. was brought back safely and the 10 million VND loss was transferred...

Previously, at 7:15 p.m. on July 15, Binh Duc Ward Police also received a report from Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Suong (42 years old, residing in Binh Khanh 3 Hamlet, Binh Duc Ward) that her daughter Vo NLV (17 years old) received threatening text messages, asking her to transfer money to "pay off her online task debt". In the text message, V. said she was lured into doing tasks to earn money online, then asked to pay a debt of 300 million VND, and if she did not pay, she would have her "kidney sold".

Based on the above information, the police determined that V. was likely to have been scammed using high technology, so they quickly coordinated with other forces to inspect the motels. At 9:30 p.m. the same day, V. was discovered at a motel in Long Xuyen ward and promptly handed over to his family safely, without any property damage...

According to An Giang Provincial Police, this is a new trick with a sophisticated scenario, suspected to be carried out by organized criminals abroad. The subjects often choose students; take advantage of their gullibility and lack of skills in handling situations... to manipulate their minds in order to seize property from their families. They often ask the victims to use their personal accounts to receive ransom money, making it difficult for relatives to verify the truth.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Pham Van Bang, Deputy Head of the Criminal Police Department, An Giang Provincial Police, through the above cases, the unit issued a notice requesting the police of 102 communes and wards in the province to increase propaganda to students, university students, and parents about signs of fraud, such as: Pretending to be police, asking for confidentiality, urgent money transfer, providing account information, video calling with people in uniform... Absolutely do not provide personal information, bank accounts via phone, applications of unknown origin. When receiving a distress message from relatives, it is necessary to calmly verify, do not rush to transfer money, but immediately report to the police for handling. When receiving suspicious information, the local police force needs to immediately check motels, hotels in the area and neighboring areas to promptly detect victims and prevent damage.

An Giang Provincial Police recommend that people raise their vigilance and proactively coordinate with functional forces to promptly detect and handle violations of the law.

NGUYEN HUNG

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/canh-bao-thu-doan-lua-dao-gia-danh-cong-an-dan-dung-bat-coc-hoc-sinh-de-chiem-doat-tien-a424392.html